Haunted Heart
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: he met her by accident. or was it fate? he saved her from a nasty end, and she returned the favor. how does a human/fox demon hybrid go about thanking the woman that saved his life? Why, he makes said woman his family of course. Kurama/OC rated M R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Fear, it seemed to be a living breathing entity of late. It surrounded her, suffocated her, tormented her with hellish nightmarish visions of blood and pain and screams of agony before death. It was a terrible thing to live with everyday of one's life.

And right now, in the close quarter's of the train station in downtown Tokyo- the bombardment of everything from sound, to smell to the vision's in her mind's eye were making her damned head ache. To be perfectly honest she should have expected something like this to occur.

After all she was a famous medium from the U.S. whom had moved overseas in the hopes of escaping everything. However Japan appeared to be just as horrible as everywhere else she had ever live.

It was full of spirit's and ghosts too.

Some of which she had seen throwing themselves off of the platform in front of ongoing trains in a bizarre parody of their final moments, only to crawl up from the tracks again with their twisted and disfigured bodies. Dripping organs and blood everywhere- just to do it all over again several minutes later.

And the one's who weren't too busy throwing themselves off of the platform were wandering through the crowd of bodies, getting up in people's faces to see if they reacted any to their presence.

And if they did... Well, usually when that happened you wound up with a new best friend. Albit an unwanted one, but still. The spirit would automatically latch on to the person who reacted to them, and follow them.

That was how hauntings occurred.

It didn't always have anything to do with the house you live in or some crap like that, sometimes it was the people who were haunted.

They were just either too stupid of senseless to realize it.

But she knew it. Hell she even understood it to a degree that would put most people in mental hospital's where they would then have a very intimate relationship with a nice comfy straightjacket. God knew that she had been there once or twice in her life thanks to a few nervous breakdowns caused by her ability.

But that was neither here nor there right now.

Right now she was simply trying to distract herself without giving herself away to one or more of the spirit's wandering close by.

Mentally touching her fingertips together while counting to a million, she must have gotten to about a hundred before she paused for a moment to look around the crowd and blinked when she could literally see a bunch of zero's in flashing red lights hanging over the heads of at least thirty or so people.

Tilting her head to the side ever so slightly since she had only come across this phenomenon once before and that was a vague recollection at best due to how old she had been at the time, she stared. At first puzzled.

And then, one of the people with a zero hanging over their head bumped into her and nearly knocked her off of the platform. Or at least the guy _would_ have knocked her off of the platform if not for the fact that a person (she assumed was a young woman with near waist length long red hair and vivid emerald eyes) hadn't have reached out and grabbed her to prevent her fall, and hauled her back against... Uh... _Note to self stop assuming that every guy with long hair is a woman._ She mentally chided herself as the young man carefully maneuvered them back away from the edge a little bit before releasing her.

"Thanks." She muttered awkwardly as she cast a brief glance in his direction and nearly did a double take when she could have sworn that he had golden colored eyes instead of green there for a minute. But then again, perhaps it was merely a trick of the light.

He said nothing, though she got the mental impression that he smiled. If only for a moment.

Resuming her earlier distraction of counting as she ticked off random numbers on her fingertips, she felt her mind being tugged sharply in another direction. One far from numbers, and distractions and safety and sanity- and right back into the vision's of hell.

A train crashing. People being thrown into the seats and sides and windows. The glass breaking and cutting people to ribbons while others were simply impales through the eye, neck, chest and stomach.

Limbs were torn off as the train slid across the ground, because those unlucky enough to hit that particular side of the train wound up being dragged, their arms and legs ripped off and their insides falling out of their skulls and torso's from all the damage.

What few didn't automatically die on impact or from being dragged, slashed or impaled were alive enough to scream and wail and cry until they either died of shock, the fire that would roast them once it consumed the train, or from blood loss.

Her breath coming out in short quick bursts, her stomach lurched, and bile burned the back of her throat as she closed her eyes trying to will away the nightmare in her head _quietly_.

But she must have made a sound, however small, because suddenly the person whom had saved her before had her by the upper arm and was pulling her back, back, back away from the platform and over to a nice, sturdy looking bench where he gently pushed her down onto it and then knelt down in front of her so that they were eye to eye and asked in a soft voice, "Are you alright?"

Again she got the impression of gold eyes watching her as she looked him in the eye and bit her lower lip and let out a whimper as she felt the tears that she had been trying to hold back for some time finally slip down her face.

Frowning at her behavior, the young man started to ask her questions.

Things like, Could he call anyone? Did she have any friends nearby? Did she need to go to a hospital?

Because obviously she must be mentally ill in some way to be acting as she was instead of acting like a _normal_ human being. Why if she wasn't a medium and about to have a damn nervous breakdown right here and now, she'd possibly slap his pretty face for daring to suggest that she was mentally ill.

Sighing because he was clearly growing frustrated from her lack of a response, he slowly began to stand as he turned his head and noted that the train that they had been waiting for had finally arrived. Silently debating on whether or not he should leave the distraught woman by herself and simply leave, he was about to do just that when he took a small step in the direction of the train and felt a sudden tug on his arm.

Looking down at his wrist, he blinked when he noticed that the woman's small, delicately boned hand was tightly grasping his wrist in a white knuckled grip. Sighing again, he placed his hand over hers and made an attempt to carefully pry her fingers from him when he just happened to glance at her face.

She was a pretty little thing.

Petite and delicately boned, her body was slender but nicely curved in all the right places. However it was her eyes that were his main focus at the moment, wide, frightened, _hysterical_ looking- they were a lovely deep teal color that almost seemed unnatural to him.

And they were silently beseeching him not to leave her alone.

 _Damn._ He thought in slight irritation. Today was the beginning of his second semester of collage. And if he knew one thing for certain it was that medical student's didn't become doctors by missing even one day of school.

Still, he couldn't just up and leave the woman as she was now.

What is she attacked someone? Or attempted to end her life?

God, now he felt really mad at himself for losing patience with her. He was usually so much better with people than this. However between being late to get a start on his day, and the earlier phone call with his step father about having him participate in several arranged meetings with some women looking for a husband, honestly he was at his wit's end.

Sighing again, he put his hands up in surrender and silently moved to sit down beside the woman whom slowly uncurled her hand from around his wrist and seemed to relax a little bit although she still looked as if she were going to be sick or something.

He leaned back on the bench and fixed his eyes on the train full of people as the doors to all of the cars closed and then the vehicle lurched forward with a loud screech of metal on metal before quickly disappearing from view.

The second it was gone, he started to turn to the woman to say something when she slowly, almost as if she were wary of something happening, got to her feet and took a moment to look around. Noting that there were less than a dozen people present on the platform now, she appeared to be searching for something as she quickly ticked numbers off with her fingers.

Something that he was beginning to realize was a little bit of a nervous habit for her.

Finally after several seconds, she made her way back over to him and held out her hand for him to take. The look on her pale face was determined.

Never one to let his curiosity go unsated, Kurama slid his hand into hers and let her pull him up from the bench and begin to drag him along behind her. Ignoring any protest he might have spoken or any argument that he may have made in lieu of dragging him out of the subway and above ground where upon reaching the final step to the subway, she turned and gripped his shoulders and _manhandled_ him.

A woman actually had the audacity to manhandle him! He thought for a moment in amusement as she backed him up to an alley before letting him go and saying cryptically, "Stay here for ten minutes. You should be safe here."

He blinked at her before giving her an well practiced, 'oh' look as it dawned on him that this woman must be very sick in the head indeed if she thought that she was saving him from something. Still, nevertheless, he gave her his word that he would stay put.

And he would, if only to appease his curiosity a bit more as the woman moved back away from him and went to the opening of the alley and peeked around the corner before slipping out and taking off running like a bat out of hell towards the local park.

He frowned and might have dared to attempt to follow her since the woman was obviously deranged, however a strange loud sound suddenly split the air and he could feel the ground shake under his feet as people began to run by him screaming in terror.

Peeking around the corner to see what was going on, he blinked his emerald eyes when he saw that a good portion of the road was missing and in it's place was a fiery pit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the late update on this- I kind of caught something and am running a fever of almost a hundred and three.**

 **That and my mind keeps wandering.**

(*********************************************************************************************************************************)

Few people could boast of managing to survive a train wreck in a literal sense. However looking back on it now... Kurama was indeed one of the lucky one's despite his sweaty, sooty and blood stained appearance to the contrary.

The moment that the mysterious woman had left and he had heard the noise and screaming- true to the honed instincts he had developed, he had gone running towards whatever danger there was instead of _away_ from it like a normal human might.

And it was a good thing he had too. Because there had still been people alive in that hellish inferno.

And although he hadn't truly been able to save any of them by normal means, he had at least pulled them to safety and stayed with them as they died.

Speaking in a low and soothing voice, attempting to calm them all since it would do no good for them to pass on while frightened and panicking. That would only make the ferry girl's job more difficult since she would have to sooth and comfort them before she could even bother with taking them on to spirit world.

Some had passed crying- the terror of the wreck still firmly etched into their minds. And some had passed quietly after only a few moment. Their bodies having gone into shock and overwhelmed them entirely.

Leaving him sitting there, with the back of his blood stained hand pressed against his lips in an effort to hide the low growl of annoyance that had slipped unbidden from his throat as the first rescue response vehicles began to arrive.

Soon after he found himself being gently pulled away from the civilian's that had perished before he could truly help them by one of the paramedics whom then had him sit down in the back of an ambulance, despite his protests, and began to look him over for any injuries.

He had a sprained wrist, a couple of small burns, and one or two gnashes and bruises.

Which he found more than a little bit surprising since he didn't remember having gotten hurt in the first place. He wasn't in any pain or discomfort. Possibly because of the fact that his demon energy was already mending his body, _slowly_ , so that he could more carefully blend in with the humans around him.

Blinking his emerald eyes, he nearly jumped and twisted around and grabbed the wrist of the paramedic attending to him as he felt something settle around his shoulders- vaguely recalling some mention of the possibility that he may be going into shock from the man as he gripped his jean clad pants leg so hard that his knuckles turned white just in an effort to still himself from harming the human.

People were slowly beginning to trickle back into the area now. Along with TV reporter's police officers and others.

He sat in the back of the ambulance for what felt like forever, only partially paying attention to the next person who came to talk with him- a police officer, he believed- whom sat down next to him and began to ask questions about the accident and his involvement.

He told the officer everything he could think of. Including a general description of the woman that had saved his life as the gears in his mind turned. Putting together random pieces of the puzzle until he came up with two possible answers for why the woman had spared his life this day.

1) She was just one of many potential threats to the state and her friends needed a witness to the chaos.

And then there was thought 2) The woman had some sort of spiritual awareness that had let her know before hand that the accident with the train was going to take place.

It would certainly explain a few things. Like why she had been acting so damn jittery.

He himself had been surprised on more than one occasion by the vengeful and sorrowful ghosts that roamed the train station day after day. Granted, that he hadn't actually ever been so surprised by them that he reacted to the spirit's so strongly that they latched onto him.

He knew all too well how most hauntings ended for _those_ poor souls.

And frankly, he liked being alive too much to allow any ghost to kill _him_ by feeding off of his emotional and spiritual energy. Still... The fact that the woman had seemed to know. She had somehow piqued his interest without even meaning too when she had been leading him to safety.

And now that she had his attention- well, it would be a good long time before she would be rid of him- especially once he found her again.

(****************************************************************************************************************************)

Samantha Christopher Carter slammed her door closed behind her and sank to the floor just in the hallway of her new home the very moment that she finally managed to open the damn door to the house. She couldn't believe this crap.

Here she was straight from the U.S. for a nice long relaxing retirement from her former job as a consultant for the local police, where she had been working cold cases, murders, kidnappings, and other really, really bad things- and the first day she decides to go out sight seeing around Tokyo... A goddamn train crashes!

Honestly how could anyone expect her to function properly when everywhere she went or looked catastrophe struck? As it was already she wanted to move again. And frankly no one could blame her, this was a fucking mess!

One far too big for just her to clean up this time.

Reaching up, she pulled the hood of her hoodie off of her head and then slipped her fingers into her long, thick snow white colored hair. Her teal colored eyes stared blankly ahead as she tried to sort through everything going on in her head.

But _dammit_ it was painful! And not just because of the train incident either, she was picking up shit from spirits for miles. Some was old, some was new, and then just to top everything off there was a sudden increase in sound- almost as if there were million's and million's of voices talking all at once.

And then she heard it- this blood chilling laugh. Almost like a crazy person's laugh only more wicked and evil sounding. So much so that it made her skin crawl.

She'd heard this sound before in her mind, it was the one that had driven her to the razor's edge of insanity, and though she had been without hearing it for the past year or so- the fact that she was hearing it now was terrifying to her.

And then just like all of the other times, the voice stopped laughing and began to speak to her specifically.

 _Hello Samantha, did you enjoy your outing today?_

Which she basically translated too, Did you enjoy the wreck? Since that was what the voice was hinting at. Taking a deep breath, quickly followed by another Samantha concentrated hard on finding the sadistic bastard and sent her consciousness outside of her body.

She could cover miles like this. Merely focusing on one person or spirit signature in particular, closing off herself in her current surroundings helped since the house was warded against evil spirits and the like.

They couldn't get in, they couldn't possess her body, or her mind. All they could do was speak to her and tell her of terrible things to come.

She covered a great span of miles in each direction before she felt the abrupt pull of exhaustion from her body and had to return to rest. As per usual the bastard that kept contacting her maintained his side of their weird little mind meld while staying far enough from her reach so that she couldn't find him.

 _Coward._ She silently snarled.

She wasn't sure if this- this thing speaking with her was a spirit or a person- she always got the impression that he was something so much worse ever since their first time speaking together when she was working a case in the U.S.

The case had hit particularly close to home for her, mainly because there were a series of brutal slaying and almost all of the victims involved had been about sixteen or seventeen and had had psychic abilities of one kind or another. However it was the very last three victims that had freaked her the hell out.

Though it was through no true fault of their own.

When they had been taken, each of them had been brunettes with blue or green eyes.

And when she and the cops had found them, the girls had been naked, strung up in chains and barbed wire, their legs spread wide for them to be assaulted repeatedly by the one who had taken them, and their hair had been dyed white like her own- and their eyes... Even in death she could see their pain and horror in their sightless eyes.

Later that night after getting home the voice had started contacting her, taunting, boasting, telling her things that she wished that she could block out forever. But couldn't.

And now he was contacting her again...

Leaning her back against the door, she sighed tiredly. _Will I ever be free of him?_


	3. Chapter 3

Kurama didn't bother going to school that day.

He'd been far too busy trying to keep images of himself out of the press by using his spiritual power to fry any camera's in the area and answering police questions that by the time he had returned to his loft apartment, it was well into the late evening.

He had the equivalent of a human migraine and he was absolutely and utterly _exhausted_. He had no sooner shut the door to his apartment and set his keys down on the table in the hall next to one of his phone's when he noted that his answering machine- which had been completely blank when he had left this morning- now had something along the lines of thirty messages on it.

Curious to know whom had been calling him, he slipped off his shoes and pressed the button and automatically flinched at the sound of Kuwabara's rough voice practically shouting at him to pick up his phone. Pushing the button again, mainly in the hopes that it would further things along- he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Kuwabara's panicked voice again.

 _""Kurama! Dammit open this stupid door! Kurama! Kurama! ... Fine, don't answer me! But you better damn well pick up the phone the next time I call otherwise I'm going to do something terrible to you..."_

 _And just what are you going to do to me Kuwabara?_ Kurama wondered curiously as silence fell an he left the hall and went into his bedroom and dug out something for his headache which had just made a tad bit worse. He was just coming back out of his bedroom again with the tablets in his mouth when he heard the words.

 _"That's it! I calling in the big guns!"_

 _The big guns huh? Which guns are those?_ Kurama wondered as he mentally ticked off the names of his friends. The only really big guns that he was aware of aside from his mother were Yusuke, Keiko, Shizuru, and Hiei.

Yusuke- everyone feared for a reason. Being one of the former demon king's after discovering his demon heritage, he was a pretty frightening guy.

Hiei- everyone (except him) feared for other reasons. Besides, he had little to worry about with him since he'd lost his cell phone ages ago. So unless someone had found a psychic to use in order to contact him-which he highly doubted- then he really had little to worry about as far as the fire demon was concerned.

Keiko and Shizuru- Well he had more than a healthy dose of respect for any woman who could knock a half blooded Mikozu/her own baby brother through a wall. And while nerd violence may have become something to dread, _girl_ violence was so much worse.

That opened up a whole new playing field of violence that he doubted even he would walk away from perfectly unscathed. Besides, girl violence was part of the stupid reason why he hadn't bothered to attempt dating yet at his age. He was hoping to find the one human woman in all the world that didn't reduce to throwing punches every time someone looked at them or opened their mouth to speak to them.

The next voice on his answering machine startled him since he hadn't heard from said person since he had married his school sweetheart right out of high school.

 _"Yo, Kurama. It's Yusuke. Kuwabara just called and asked me to try calling you just in case you were avoiding him or something. He's seriously wound up about something so I promised to call you a few times and make sure that you were okay. Seriously though- if he upsets Keiko with his weird crap I'm going to kill him. And then I'm coming after you for winding him up. Until then, take care."_

 _Ah Yusuke,_ he never changed. Kurama thought fondly before he realized that his friend had just threatened to kill him.

Next up was Shizuru's voice, which sounded annoyed.

 _"Hey Red I need you to do me a favor, if you didn't get on the train this morning and get yourself killed, call Kazuma. He's seriously freaking out and to be honest...after seeing bits and pieces of news footage an hour ago of the wreck- all of us are more than a little freaked out."_

There was the sound of someone yelling in the background and Shizuru sighed and growled out,

 _"Yes Yusuke, I'm calling him now. Shut. Up! ... Anyways Red, if you don't call within the hour we're going to head over to your place to check on you. Oh and I called your mom, later."_

At the mention of his mother, Kurama all but hurried over to the answering machine and snatched it up and shook it in a threatening manner. As if that would somehow keep his mother from becoming involved. It wouldn't of course, which meant that the net time he saw Kuwabara he'd have to punch him in the face or something since he couldn't very well punch Shizuru.

Not only did he have the ethic not to hit a lady, but he had enough common sense not to hit that particular lady. Especially when he knew she'd hurt him for it.

The next message was probably from Hiei, which obviously meant that he either got a new phone or had finally found his former one, since there was nothing but a grunt and some breathing on the line. Either that or he had just had a pervert call him and jack themselves while being recorded.

 _Ew._

The last remaining message's after that were understandably, his mother. And after listening to each and everyone (including the last three where she had broken down and began crying) he was starting to see red.

His frayed nerves finally giving in to the desire to beat someone or something to a pulp as he reached out and unplugged his answering machine and picked up his phone to call his mother when he heard banging on his front door and tilted his head back a little bit and smelled the air around him.

Even though his guests were outside, he could smell them all quite easily. Of course he could hear them too. Each of their distinct voices conversing quietly on the other side of his front door.

"Are you sure this is wise Yusuke?"

"It's fine. We promised ourselves to check up on him and make sure that he was alright after seeing the news earlier-"

"Yeah, but-"

"Oh give over Keiko. This is our friend we're talking about. If something's happened to him then we have the right to know."

"Yeah I know but, what if we're intruding? I mean what if he's injured or something and trying to rest?"

"If that were the case kiddo we would have heard back from him already. Besides we promised his mom right?" Shizuru said. Causing Kurama to feel conflicted with himself. He understood that his friends had meant well, but to alarm his mother in such a way was unforgiveable to him.

Besides, he still had an answering machine to chuck at Kuwabara's head.

"You've got the spare key, right?" Keiko's voice asked someone, causing Kurama to stiffen slightly where he stood as he narrowed his green eyes at the door and subtly reached out and pulled the table drawer open and felt the nearly overwhelming urge to curse Yusuke's kleptomaniac tendencies.

After all, aside from Hiei, the half Mokozu was the only person that he knew of that would _dare_ to steal from him.

There was the sound of his door being unlocked. And then relocked. And then unlocked again and he felt the frustrating urge to roll his eyes and bang on the door and yell, Figure out the stupid lock Yusuke!

God, he had to be the only half human in all the three worlds that had no damned idea how to unlock a door _normally_. Sort of like some people who had no idea how to work their cell phones. And yes, he was thinking of Hiei there.

"Are you sure he should be home now?" Shizuru asked as Kurama picked up his answering machine and wound his arm back and held it like that. Waiting for stupid Kuwabara to make the mistake of opening his door first.

And true to his nature, the very moment that Yusuke unlocked the door- the oaf shoved him out of the way and pulled his apartment door open...only to seconds later wind up eating bits and pieces of hard plastic as Kurama chucked his answering machine at his head with all the force and skill of a pro baseball player. Sending the man sprawling onto his back in the hallway as Yusuke peeked around the corner at him.

An bemused expression on his face as he took in Kurama's disheveled appearance as the hybrid bared his teeth a bit in annoyance and growled as the former spirit detective waved at him. "Hi Kurama."

"Hello to you too Yusuke. I want my spare key back." Was all that Kurama said to his friend as he waved the rest of them inside and made sure to grab his phone as he excused himself for a moment while the others came in and made themselves comfy while he called his mother to let her know that he was fine.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hi Kurama."

"Hello to you too Yusuke. I want my spare key back." Was all that Kurama said to his friend as he waved the rest of them inside and made sure to grab his phone as he excused himself for a moment while the others came in and made themselves comfy while he called his mother to let her know that he was fine.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!" Kuwabara said as he managed to finally pick himself up off of the floor and meander his way into the living room where everyone was quietly sitting while Kurama paced back and forth across the room with his phone against his ear.

His tone colored with concern and frustration as he spoke softly.

"Yes, mother. I'm sure that I'm fine. No you don't need to send father to check on me. Really. I _am_ fine," He said as he sent a scathing look in Kuwabara's direction since sending Shizuru a withering glare would likely land him in the hospital.

"Yes. There isn't a single mark on me." He hated telling the lie no matter how small it was. But if he had bothered to tell his mother that he had run into the inferno to try and save some of the lives of the people dying, he wasn't completely sure that she would understand much less not go into hysterics.

"Yes mother, I'll call again soon so that we can talk. Yes, I love you too. Alright goodbye." Kurama said as he finally wrapped up his phone conversation and ended the call and then sighed as he cast his friends a side ways glance before asking in a pleasant tone, "Drinks anyone?"

Everyone silently nodded their heads yes as he smiled at them in typical Kurama fashion, which was just damn creepy after the way he had knocked Kuwabara on his ass a few minutes ago.

The fox demon/human hybrid set the phone down and started to leave the living room to fetch everyone's drinks when he recalled having demanded his spare key back from Yusuke and still haven't have gotten it yet. Stopping just in the doorway, he turned his head to glare at his old friend over his shoulder for a moment before saying again, "Yusuke, I want my spare key back." His tone sounded sickly sweet and threatening all at once, causing the Makozu demon to stiffen in his seat next to his wife.

He was only gone for a second or so, and when he returned, he had soda's for everyone but Keiko since he recalled gleaning from her smell that she was pregnant, earlier before everyone had come into his home.

He had gotten her some juice.

His own special blend of apple, orange and sweet cranberry. Since she wasn't an avid fan of soda's much anyways, in her current state, he felt that she might appreciate this more.

Once he handed her her glass of juice and watched her take a small sip to see if it was something that she'd like, he smiled the second time she took a drink. His juice blend having apparently met her standards, she thanked him quietly as he sat down on the coffee table across from her and the others and leaned in and quietly asked, "When did it happen?"

Keiko choked on her drink for a moment as her face turned beet red and she blinked at him with a sort of dazed look on her pretty face as he realized that she apparently didn't know of her condition.

"W-When did what-" She started to ask when Kurama chuckled and waved her question away, earning a suspicious look from Yusuke whom was likely suffering at the moment from his supped-up demon instincts. It wasn't that surprising really give the nature of his demon blood.

Makozu were notoriously well known for many things, being savages, human eaters, and for being especially difficult to control when other males were around their lovers and mates.

And while Yusuke logically knew deep down inside that Kurama wasn't a threat of any kind... His demon instincts might inevitably cause him to challenge Kurama for rights to Keiko. Something that the demon/human hybrid doubted he would like much since it would possibly mean an extended stay in the hospital and a bit of a strain on his friendship with the young man.

But once it was over with, he knew that it wouldn't happen again since Yusuke would only need to assert his dominance over him _once_ to prove that he was the alpha male.

"Kurama?" Yusuke's voice cut through his thoughts much like a blade cuts through butter, easily and without difficulty, causing Kurama to look at him for a moment before saying tentatively,

"Yes Yusuke?" After all he'd hate to accidentally agree to fight him because he was thinking too much.

"I asked, What caused you to miss the train? You've always been on time before." Yususke said, repeating his earlier words again as he brought his soda up to his lips. His dark gaze never straying too far from Kurama's face unless it was to flicker over to Keiko's face for a moment.

"I was on time this time too," Kurama said with a slightly strained smile as he thought back to the woman that had led him to safety. "However something odd occurred..."

"Odd as in apparitions and ghosts? Or someone jumped from the platform again funny?" Yusuke asked in his usual delicate manner before being smacked in the back of the head by his wife.

"Yusuke! People committing suicide isn't funny!"

 _"Ouch!"_ Yusuke yelped as he rubbed the back of his head and blinked his eyes a few times to keep himself from actually crying. Damn her slaps stung!

Kurama bit down on his pinkie finger to keep from laughing at his friend as Keiko reprimanded him for his lack of empathy about suicide victims.

The two argued back and forth for a moment before deciding that they were getting off topic and both settled back down to let Kurama speak again while they ignored each other.

 _Ah, young love._ Kurama thought with a soft chuckle.

"So you were saying?" Shizuru asked curiously.

"There were a great deal more apparitions than normal. At least five or six dozen more than normal. Aside from that there was also this strange woman. She appeared perfectly fine at first glance, but upon taking a second and more careful look- she was panicking. Almost utterly terrified, really. I normally don't get involved but the poor woman was so out of it that she was almost pushed off of the platform just as the train arrived. I stopped her from falling, however she looked so scared that I wasn't sure what to do. I asked if she was alright. If she had friends or family that she needed me to call but she never said anything."

"She merely stayed quiet and kept doing this," Kurama demonstrated the finger moments and some of the lip movements for them before continuing on, "I genuinely believed her to be mentally ill but now that I think about it was counting down the minutes to the accident. She had them timed perfectly. Just before the accident, while the train was still boarding- she grabbed my wrist to keep me from moving. I tried to pry her fingers loose but was unable too before she pinned me in place with those peculiar eyes of hers."

"She looked a if she were desperate to escape that place, and yet remained down to the very last moment considered safe to do so before standing up and grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the train station an back above ground where she then took me some ways away and pushed me into an alley-"

Yusuke rubbed his hands over his face as he swore. "Fuck Kurama she could have been a serial killer or something. What the hell were you doing following her?"

"As I said, earlier I worked under the assumption that she could be mentally ill. I didn't want her to become a danger to herself or others..."

"So you just let her do as she pleased?"

"Not entirely. But then once she had me in the alley, she pulled me over to one of the buildings and pushed me against the wall and simply told me to stay put. And then she went and ran off. mere seconds later I heard a loud sound and the ground began to shake followed by people running and screaming. I got curious and went to see what was going on, but by then the woman was simply gone."

Everyone was silent as Kurama finished telling them the final gory details of his day before sitting back and saying, "I think the woman may have had abilities not unlike Kuwabara's own, if not stronger. It would certainly be understandable as to why she was so upset."

Yusuke scrubbed his hands over his face and then dropped them back to his lap as he leaned forward and asked, "So what do we do now?"

"The only thing we can. We find her and take her into protective custody..." Kurama replied simply before laying out a brief outline of what protective custody would entail for them.

It meant that one of them would need to live with the girl, observe her and her abilities so that they could properly be measured. He stressed that the last thing they needed was another person of the late Sensui's abilities popping up and losing their minds like the former spirit detective had.

He also stressed that Koenma needed to be notified of the woman's existence and any records he had on her needed to be found so that they could look over it.

Yusuke didn't like it. Not really anyways.

But he figured that he'd go with it since it had been almost seven years since his return to human world. Besides, he sort of missed old pacifier breath and his favorite grim reaper.

It'd be nice to be able to say hello and catch up a bit.


	5. Chapter 5

Koenma hummed as he watched the screen firmly planted on his far wall.

When he'd seen the reports coming in from living world and seen Kurama's name on the list of potential victims, he had instantly clicked on his screen and changed the channel until he could see his former spirit detective and his friends. Seeing Kurama alive and well had been a relief.

So much so that he had all but collapsed to the floor just to take the weight of his body off of his shaky legs as Botan finally made it to his office and threw open the door just before entering.

"Koenma-sir! Kurama was-"

"I know," Koenma said weakly as the blue haired ferry girl came shuffling over to him as fast as she could.

"Kurama wasn't hurt was he?"

"If he had been... We'd likely have Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei beating down our gates by now." Koenma commented. Causing Botan to pause in her tracks not too terribly far from him and get a look of comical horror on her face as it dawned on her that Koenma was right about that.

Why the mental images alone were terrifying!

Letting out a nervous sounding laugh Botan tried to think of something to say to assure her boss that he was wrong about Yusuke and the other's, but after a moment or so realized that she couldn't. She simply knew the boys too well.

And loyalty was simply something that ran more deep than just blood with them.

It was something much like the mutual respect and trust they shared in each other's abilities. Their power simply called to each other, complimented each other. Each person's individual strengths outweighed their weaknesses.

Yes, Yusuke and the rest of the team's relationship with each other was a thing of beauty, when it wasn't being used for evil that is.

"Well I'm happy that things haven't come to that just yet." Botan finally said as she thought, _And I'm happy that Kurama is alright. God knows that Yusuke and the other two would be lost without him._

"Anyways," Koenma finally said as he slowly got back up to his feet. "I've already pulled all of the necessary files and papers that I could find as well as video footage of the person that saved Kurama's life earlier today. I need you to take these things to Yusuke and the others. I also need you to contact Hiei and see if you can get him to return to living world for a while. A few weeks to a few months, if he's willing. And when you see Kurama and Yusuke tell them to find the woman before we wind up with another Sensui on our hands!" He said as he tossed everything from papers to files to videos to the alarmed woman and then waved her off.

(***************************************************************************************************************************************)

Samantha sat slumped against her front door, trying to ignore the pull of exhaustion that had taken a death like grip on her. She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there like she was, but must have been quite a while due to the fact that when she _finally_ started to get over the tired lethargic feeling in her body, she was sore all over.

Her body was stiff and aching in places that she hadn't even been aware that she had.

 _Barely twenty years old and not only do I have white hair, but I'm getting arthritis too._ She thought in wry amusement as she mentally teased herself for getting to the point where she was practically falling apart at the seams.

Sighing, she felt rather than heard the soft rumble of her stomach and slowly and carefully got to her feet so that she wouldn't wind up accidentally falling or something. Like she usually did after sitting in a peculiar position for far too long.

However once on her feet, she slowly made her way through the house to the kitchen before remembering, Oh yeah, she had been out earlier to go grocery shopping.

But since the train that she had been about to get on had wrecked and killed pretty much everyone on it... Well between that, her panic attack, and fleeing back to her home where her 'friend' had begun contacting her to torment her- then it was little wonder that she had forgotten.

Any normal person would have done the same.

However her lack of food stuffs just meant that she had to leave the house again. Now that it was finally dark outside. And frankly she would rather starve than go out again, but without food she really was in a bit of a bind. Especially since she hadn't been eating for the past few days since moving.

She was still trying to unpack everything and get comfortable in her new surroundings.

Exhaling softly, she reached up and ran her fingers through her long tousled looking hair and then grasped the hood on her jacket and pulled it up into place and then turned and slowly unlocked her door and opened it just enough to slip out and then closed it behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

The moment that Botan arrived in living world, she had called Kurama and told him to keep Yusuke and the others there for a bit, she was on her way to his place to give them the information that they wanted on the woman who had saved him. And then she had spent the next seven or so minutes crying and babbling about how happy she was that he was okay.

Something that everyone in the background had heard before he had managed to calm her enough to tell her that Shizuru and Keiko had just offered to cook him some dinner since he was likely too tired to do so himself. And then he had asked if Botan wished to join them, she had giddily said that she would bring something since she didn't have the opportunity to cook if everyone wanted.

To which Yusuke had said something about a sushi platter. Causing Kurama to bite down on his lower lip a bit. Sushi, some vegetable miso soup with bits of tofu, a leafy salad, and some grilled fish sounded really nice right about now.

After which the line from Botan's end of the phone had gone dead, a sure indication that she would grab what they wanted before she headed over.

While it may be true that even as a demon/human hybrid, he may not need to eat everyday...he had been trying to get used to doing so anyways ever since his return from demon world several years ago.

Mainly because he had finally made his choice to live as a human, and since he had finally decided, he knew that that meant _specific things_ that he had never dreamed before had finally solidified in his mind as a future reality.

Things like- girlfriend, wife, kids.

All of which he was more than somewhat shy about admitting terrified him.

Still, he had made up his mind and planned to stick to his principals on this. No matter how scary he found it to be.

(************************************************************************************************************************************)

The moment Botan was finished with her call, she headed to the all night grocery store around the corner from Kurama's home to get what Yusuke had suggested since she hadn't been able to cook anything. Grabbing a basket as she entered the store, she slowly began walking around.

Not really paying any attention to where she was going until she had more or less knocked some poor soul down and sent their stuff scattering all over the place.

Samantha hit the floor with a soft squeak of alarm as her stuff went all over the place before the strange blue haired woman even seemed to take any notice of the fact that she had just knocked her down.

The woman blinked her neon pink eyes at her for a moment before she seemingly recalled her manners. "Oh my! I'm so sorry!" She said as she knelt down and righted Sam's basket and then began to pick up some of the things that had spilled out of it. "I can be such a klutz sometimes." The woman rambled on in a british like accent as Sam took a moment to study her.

Her instincts telling her that the woman wasn't a normal human. If anything she seemed like some sort of apparition in human flesh. But even that didn't seem like an accurate description of her.

 _I knew it was a bad idea to leave the house._ She thought tiredly as she grabbed the last few things that had yet to be collected and returned them to her basket as the woman smiled at her kindly and said, "I hope that you can forgive me for knocking you over like that. Say I just had a wonderful idea-" _Uh-oh._ Sam thought before the woman began to ramble on again. "I'm going to a friends for dinner. I could give him a call and see if he cares if one more guest comes over for some food. Would you like that?" The woman finally stopped speaking and seemed to be waiting for her to say something.

Sam opened her mouth to say 'no'.

After all she didn't know the woman, all she knew was that she was something aside from human- however she never got the chance before the woman stood up and clapped her hands together and grinned as she said, "Oh it would be ever so much fun! And you wouldn't have to worry about your things going bad since you could borrow his fridge to keep things cool. Please say yes."

Sam shut her mouth and shook her head no. And nearly freaked out when the woman/apparition thingy got to her feet and suddenly grabbed her wrist and said in a tone that was totally different from her formerly overly chipper one, "But I'm afraid that I really must insist... Samantha. My friends and I were asked specifically to find you and take you into protective custody- _Ahhh!_ " Botan shrieked as the young woman swung her basket at her head, forcing her to release her just to avoid getting hit.

Giving the human woman enough time to let her fight or flight instincts take hold and scream bloody murder. Startling everyone in the store before a couple of clerks came running to see what was going on.


	7. Chapter 7

While the clerks were dealing with the apparition/human woman- Sam decided that she had overstayed her welcome and left the store at a dead run. Dropping her things before she reached the door, she went tearing out of the door and down the street. Not bothering to look behind her to see if she was being followed, though she probably should have.

After all if she had bothered, she would have noticed that the other was hot on her trail as she dug out what looked like a small compact which was actually some sort of communication's device and quickly began speaking to someone on the other end of the line.

(*****************************************************************************************************************************)

Everyone was sitting at the table waiting on Botan to show when Kurama's old communication's device began beeping from the living room where he had it placed up on the mantle over his fireplace. Frowning, he politely excused himself to go and get it and almost had his hands on it when Yusuke came up behind him and grabbed it and flicked it open.

"What is it Botan?" The Makozu hybrid asked curiously as Botan appeared on the other end.

"O-Oh, Yusuke! You surprised me! Where is Kurama?"

"He's right here. Now what's wrong? Forget your wallet back in spirit world again?"

"I wish. While at the corner market not far from Kurama's- And I found her! The woman that Kurama spoke to you and the others about! She was there at the market- And now she's running down the street like demons are nipping at her heels."

"Which way?"

"In another five minute's we'll pass Kurama's place."

"Got it. We'll set up a trap and grab her outside." Yusuke said as he glanced away from Botan and over at Kurama whom was oddly enough already heading for the front door. Apparently just as eager to get the woman into protective custody as he was.

Either that or he simply wanted to see her face to face again.

"Alright..." Yusuke said somewhat dazedly as he snapped the communication's device closed, thus ending the call as he then set it back on the mantle and with a quick glace at Kuwabara went after Kurama.

(***********************************************************************************************************************************)

Kurama, Yusuke noted as soon as he stepped foot out into the hallway outside of his friend's apartment- was already MIA. Probably because he had managed to find himself a nice quiet hiding place in one of the alley's around the building so that if the woman they were supposed to be finding/catching ran in- he could quickly grab her before she got away.

Unless of course he wasn't feeling in any particular rush to catch the woman in which case he'd plant something on her as she ran either by him or under him that would allow him to track her right to her home later.

It probably didn't really matter much either way since he knew Kurama was tired and his temper was a bit short at the moment. And though he hid it very well, Yusuke knew that even after braining Kuwabara with his answering machine- that the fox demon was still a mite...well, _pissed_ at them.

Probably for calling his mother and accidentally upsetting the poor woman. That and he might possibly still be P.O'd about Yusuke having swiped his spare key to the apartment so that he could come over and just hang out and mess with his stuff on occasion for fun.

Sort of like he did on Saturday's when he knew that Kurama was going to be out in the morning.

Yusuke had developed a little bit of an evil habit of waking up early and jogging over to Kurama's place and messing with stuff. Like his underwear, he knew that the fox folded his clothing a specific way after becoming a wee bit obsessive compulsive. Anyways, Kurama liked everything to be neat and tidy. Not only that but he liked everything to smell like him.

These of course were the two things that Yusuke used to mess with him when tampering with his underwear for shits and giggles.

Which was why the second he let himself in, he made his way into Kurama's bedroom where he then fished out a sweaty, blood stained shirt that he had stolen from Hiei the last time that he had visited with them all, and took everything and tossed it all in the dryer and set the machine on tumble.

And then went back to Kurama's bedroom and then rubbed his pillows and bed sheets down with frozen fish that he later returned to the freezer.

But only after washing the lint off.

After that he pulled everything from the dryer and refolded it all (except Hiei's shirt- it went back into the plastic bag) and then replaced everything in the exact order that he had taken it out. And once done he left.

Evil as it sounded, it couldn't be any worse that any of the pranks that the fox used to pull on him out of sheer boredom shortly after his return to human world.

Now some of those had been _nasty_.

The last one in particular had really stuck out in his mind, mainly because it had happened two days before his wedding to Keiko and the stupid prank had been carried so far that Yoko had actually come out to play. Shortly afterwards, Yusuke had been practically a basket case for at least two or three months.

Always worried about turning his back on Kurama, even at group gatherings. He simply didn't feel safe knowing that the fox could get bored again and use one of his tentacle plants on him. Not that he doubted any sane person could blame him any. He liked his body just the way it was thank you very much!

But as it happened paybacks were a bitch- and apparently Yusuke could dish out some really weird and creative ones when he put his mind to it. So he guessed that sort of made him a bitch too.

But he digressed.

Leaning over the railing, he searched the dark and abandoned streets for Botan and the other woman and after a moment of nothing had to wonder if perhaps he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he had completely missed them.

But then he heard foot falls, rapidly approaching, and after a moment or so saw a slight figure about Botan's height and build wearing a red and black hoody, run under a street light not too far away followed by his favorite blue haired grim reaper.

"Hey! Stop!" Botan called out but the woman kept running. Obviously too spooked by Botan's presence to pay much attention to her surrounding since Botan could feel Kurama and Yusuke skulking about nearby. Likely waiting to leap out and seize the woman before she could escape them.

And true to character just as the woman was about to run past an alley, Botan sensed Kurama's spirit energy as a pair of hands reached out of the shadows and grabbed the scared woman before she could pass by. And then dragged her into the shadows where Botan could hear a slight struggle taking place before the woman managed to let out a scream of alarm before she was quickly silenced.


	8. Chapter 8

Kurama stared down at the face of the young woman who's body was complete dead weight in his arms with a small frown marring his face. He hadn't wanted this for her. He hadn't wanted to use violence to bend her to his will. In fact he hated that things had come down to that.

However she had simply been far too scared and confused by far to listen to reason and let him attempt to sooth her fears and concerns.

In fact she had been so scared that she had stupidly attempted to escape him by fighting him. A bad move, sure. But one that had caused him to use his spirit energy to send a strong jolt of electricity into her body, rendering her unconscious without causing much physical harm.

He estimated that she would remain unconscious for several hours- perhaps even the rest of the night.

Carefully gathering her body up in his arms, he carried her out of the alley as Botan and Yusuke slowly began to make their way towards him.

Yusuke took one look at the unconscious woman and let out a low whistle as Botan doubled over and tried to catch her breath before wheezing out. "Is...she...alright?"

Kurama tore his eyes away from the woman's face and gave the grim reaper a curt nod before saying, "She's fine. Merely unconscious."

"I know that we're supposed to take her into protective custody and all, but isn't knocking her out a bit excessive?" Yusuke asked curiously as Kurama finally joined them back out in the open.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Kurama said wearily as he began walking only to be pulled to a stop by Yusuke, who motioned towards the woman with his head and held out his hands indicating that he'd take her for him if he wished. And as nice as the gesture was, Kurama couldn't keep himself from baring his teeth at his friend and growling low in warning.

Causing Yusuke to automatically take a step back from him, his dark eyes wide with shock.

"Whoa, easy there fox-boy. I'm just trying to help." Yusuke said half jokingly even though he narrowed his eyes at Kurama for a moment as his friend brushed by him so that he could return to his apartment.

Kurama's emerald colored eyes kept straying from were he was going back to the young woman's face as he walked. Not that he actual had to see where he was going or anything. Unlike Yusuke and other's with slightly limited spiritual awareness, Kurama could use his heightened senses to follow a faint scent trail that he'd placed on the building where he lived back to his apartment even when he was as weary and exhausted as he currently was.

He wanted to know the woman's name, so that he could call his savior by her name, yet he refrained from asking Botan anything at the moment since the woman was busy prattling on about this, that and the other as well as how much she had missed the lot of them.

Kurama could second that, he supposed as he very carefully switched his hold on the woman's body so that she was resting with her head on his shoulder and the entire weight of her body was settled on one arm, and reached out so that he could carefully open his apartment door as his mind subconsciously registered various things about the human that had saved him earlier that morning.

1) She barely weighed anything for someone of her height and build.

It was unsettling to say the least, that she felt so light when there should have been a bit more substance to her. _Just what the hell has she done to herself? Doesn't she eat?_ He wondered before mentally kicking himself. Of course she did, but between he abilities and freak out's he'd bet that what she ate was little more than sandwhiches here or there.

Just enough to keep her alive and that was probably it.

 _Well...that's going to change._

2) Was that she was sleeping far too deeply for her to simply be unconscious at the moment.

Which was a tad bit worrying to him since he was beginning to think that he may have accidentally put her into a shock induced coma, though he wished not to draw any attention to this fact by raising a fuss. But then with the dark circles that he had seen around her big teal colored eyes earlier that morning- he guessed that the chances of her actually going into a coma was about seventy percent. The other thirty or so percent was (and he hated to say it- _hopefully_ )geared towards her being an insomniac who just desperately needed some damn rest.

 _I'll have to fix this too._

And 3) But certainly not least, was the peculiar color of her hair.

At first glimpse it looked like freshly fallen snow- it was so pale white that it was practically translucent. But as he passed through the hallway of his apartment and headed off towards the guest room that he kept specifically for Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara to use when they visited and heavy drinking was involved. He was somewhat startled to see in the faint light from the living room fireplace that he could make out some highlights of pale, pale blonde liberally lacing her mid back length hair.

Her hair, coupled with the unblemished ivory of her skin and the soft rose of her lips, as well as the shape of her youthful pixie-like face... Well they all made her appear quite lovely.

Appealingly so.

And then there was the air of vulnerability that surrounded her as she slept... Nothing would please him more than to let his inner demon out to spend the rest of the night by her side, protecting her as only a demon could. However his demon was far too mischievous to trust with one so young.

Besides, he couldn't exactly trust his other self not to play with the woman a bit. And the absolute last thing that she needed was to awaken to a demon putting his hands on her.

Placing her down in the middle of the large cherry oak bed that he kept, he noted how she automatically seemed almost as if she were at home here. Which was good since if he had his way, she would never be leaving his side.

Startled by that oddly disturbing train of thought, he shook his head and went about trying to make her more comfortable as she slept. Or coma-ed... Whatever, he obviously felt a bit out of depth here. He was just glad that Yusuke couldn't-

"Hey, you okay there Kurama?" Yusuke asked from the doorway where he was leaning his shoulder against the frame, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the red head remove the woman's shoes and hoody.

Kurama started upon hearing his words from so close by that he actually freaked a little bit and began rolling the woman up in the comforter as if he planned to sling her up over his shoulder and just randomly jump out of one of the room's windows or something.

It might have been funny- to see the normally calm and collected Kurama acting so- so _human_ for once. If not for the fact that he had known since coming here that something was wrong with his favorite fox-boy.

He merely didn't wish to alarm anyone to the fact that something was up, though he was sure that after having Kurama nail him in the head with his answering machine that Kuwabara and his sister possibly knew that something was up. Hell even Botan had asked him covertly while they had been walking behind his friend if he was aware that something was up with the man.

And if somewhat ditzy Botan noticed, then how could he not.

The fox wasn't prone to random threats or fits of violence. And although having him brain Kuwabara was something that Yusuke would likely never forget even if he lived a hundred years (mainly because it was so damn funny). Yusuke could tell that his friend was straining to remain calm as usual whereas his actions were less controlled than normal.

So even if his mind was on business as usual, it was as if his body were at war with him. A strange thing to be sure, and definitely something he'd be asking Koenma about the second he was home and Keiko was tucked safely into bed.

Kurama made a weird growling sound before he seemed to catch himself and managed to snap, "I'm fine." Followed by a much calmer, if a tad bit strained sounding, "What the devil are you doing in here?"

Yusuke was silent for a moment before bothering to reply, "Checking up on you." _You aren't acting like yourself._

"I assure you, I am fine Yusuke." Kurama said in his usual tone as he tilted his head to the side a little bit so that his red hair slipped over one of his shoulders.

Yusuke didn't say much else for a few more minutes as he watched the red head carefully untuck a few layers from around the woman and begin fussing with her bedding again. Almost as if he worried that it wasn't soft enough or something- the more he watched, the more he seemed to realize what was wrong with his old friend.

So much so that Yusuke pushed away from the door frame and took a step forward into the room before hearing Kurama growl again, this time the sound was much louder and threatening than before, causing the half Mazkozu to pause where he stood, his eyes wide, his face drained of color, and all he could do was fucking stare at his friend as his sprit energy suddenly swelled and began to cause his body to glow.

Yusuke slowly shook his head no- trying to will Kurama to stop what he knew he was about to do.

He might have shouted a few choice oaths or something but doing so would only serve to further upset whatever tedious balance Kurama had been working with so far as Yusuke watched him place one hand over the woman's heart and slid the other one around her nape and slowly began to _push_ some of his energy inside of her.

The woman's body jerked a bit in Kurama's grasp and let out a low hiss from between clenched teeth as Kurama continued to feed her some of his energy until his spirit energy slowly changed to that of demon energy.

"Kurama!" Yusuke said in warning as he took a tentative step forward, wanting nothing more than to go over and punch his friend for what he was doing.

Especially since it was forbidden to do such things to a partner that wasn't able to decide for themselves. And in Yusuke's book, unconscious equaled unable to decide. And yet...the damned stupid fox demon wasn't stopping!

The fury it sparked in Yusuke alone was staggering. Normally the Makozu half breed would leave his friends to their own vices and let them do as they wished, but he wasn't sure if he could overlook this particular action. Especially since he would expect such ruthless behavior from Hiei.

Not Kurama.

The damned fox should know better to initiate a fucking claim that Yusuke would never allow him to follow through on without first explaining things to the woman. Preferably when she was conscious.

Yusuke was about to tear the fox away from the woman and stomp Kurama's ass into the ground for what he was doing when he saw that Kurama was no longer glowing now. The woman however, was.

Gritting his teeth in anger as he clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles cracked, Yusuke saw Kurama's faint smile of satisfaction and knew that he had won this round without even trying. His claim on the woman was settling. The soft glow of his demonic energy slowly fading into her skin and organs and bones.

Yes- Kurama had won this round. But he wasn't going to be so lucky next time.

Yusuke would see to it personally.


	9. Chapter 9

Demon claims were tricky things. Mainly because it could go one of two ways for both individual's involved. Either very, very good. Or extremely bad.

In one case both individual's shared a life span, married (or mated- depending on the demon) and spent the rest of their lives happily.

In the other case though- it never ended well for the weaker individual. Usually because the one who had initiated the claim wound up draining the other of any and all spiritual power and weakening them considerably. Almost like a vampire would.

Now Yusuke would be the first to admit that having a medaphorical vampire feeding on someone's energy, wasn't always an utterly bad thing. He should know. During the time he spent in demon world training to control his newly awakened abilities- his demon father Raizen had initiated a claim on him.

Granted it wasn't the same things that had just happened here with Kurama, and the old guy had told him of what he was doing and taken the time to answer his questions and let Yusuke decide for himself if he wished to go through with it.

Raizen's reasoning however had been that since they were blood related, the claim would act as a sort of buffer to preserve his humanity should his power go out of control and begin to consume and change him.

Yusuke couldn't begin to count just how many times the old demon's claim on him had saved his fucking life.

But what Kurama had done was just wrong.

He had basically just forced his spirit and demon energy into a human being! Yeah the woman was believed to be a psychic or something, but they had no way of knowing that for sure. And stupid demon claims were freaking unpredictable.

If anything went wrong there would be a violent backlash that could very well kill one or even both the woman _and_ Kurama.

 _Just like my late old man had died from a backlash just to save my fucking life._ Yusuke thought in annoyance as Kurama got up off of the edge of the bed only to weave a bit on his feet.

Yusuke had half a mind to let the dumbass fall flat on his face for what he had done, however in the end, despite his anger- Kurama was still his friend. Moving quickly, he grabbed the fox as his legs went out from under him, and slung one of his arms up over his shoulder's while wrapping an arm around his slim waist to hold him upright.

Grunting slightly under Kurama's weight, Yusuke frowned down at the red head and brushed his thick mane of wild red hair back away from his face so that he could see if Kurama was even still conscious.

He was. Though it looked like he was fighting a losing battle.

His green eyes were glazed over, his face pale as chalk and the idiot couldn't even hold his damn head up. _Just how much energy did he use?_ Yusuke wondered as he picked the red head up and _removed_ him from the guest room even though Kurama started to growl softly at him in warning.

Obviously not wishing to be parted from the one that he had claimed. Not that Yusuke gat a flying rats ass.

Entering Kurama's bedroom, Yusuke carried his friend over to the bed and unceremoniously dropped the growling fox demon onto it. Causing the other man to yelp in surprise before he hit his mattress.

Giving Yusuke enough time to snap at him from across the room t the door, "Now you just lay your sorry ass down and you had better stay put. If I find you in that woman's room while she's sleeping again- I'm going to kick your ass." Kurama's growling got louder, and move vicious sounding by the moment, causing Yusuke to become so annoyed that he actually slipped off one of his shoes and threw it at Kurama as he attempted to push himself upright on his bed.

As exhausted and weak as he was now, he was being driven purely by his demon's instinct to stick close to the woman. And that was simply something that Yusuke couldn't allow at the moment. At least not until things had been explained to the poor gal.

The shoe hit him square in the chest, the sight impact was enough to topple the already weakened demon even as he grasped Yusuke's shoe in one clawed hand.

Yusuke's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Kurama's nails lengthening to claws, and he quickly ducked out of the room before the other male decided to make an attempt to rip his head of. Or worse.

Demon's were unpredictable too when it came to claims.

It was much like how demon's chose the ones that they claimed.

It was either through a series of events, the sound of a person's voice or even their appearance and scent that made demon's initiate claims on others. Yusuke wasn't totally sure which one it was, but he knew what had caused him to initiate a claim on Keiko.

They had been six and he had flipped her skirt up to see her panties and she had punched him so hard that he'd actually lost a tooth.

And as odd and moronic as that sounded, that had pretty much done it for him. He'd loved her ever since. But that love was enforced by his desire to be by her side, always. Which is were the claim came in handy. Apparently he had placed one on her when they were still fairly young.

Frankly he didn't recall doing so. But he could _feel_ it. Almost as if they were meant to be bound together by fate.

But Kurama didn't know this woman. He didn't know if she was bad or good or even what her abilities were or what she was like. He didn't know her good side, her bad side, or her secrets...

Scratch that, the damn fox would have her figured out by sun down tomorrow if Yusuke allowed them to be alone. He thought in wry amusement as he ran his fingers through his collar length dark hair as his amusement slowly faded.

Out of all the people in his life that he had ever encountered (human and demon alike) Kurama had always seemed like the most responsible.

So why? Why had he forced a claim on an innocent and unknowing woman, that according to him, he had only had the pleasure of meeting once for like five or ten minutes? It just didn't make any sense to him.

And until it did...

Well, Kurama would just have to be happy with supervised visits to Yusuke's house to see the woman. Cause she sure as shit wasn't staying here with the fox.


	10. Chapter 10

Yusuke carefully closed Kurama's door and then took a moment or so to drag the hallway table over in front of it so that he could have something in place just in case his friend managed to become coherent enough to open the door in an effort to return to the guest room.

At least this way he'd have something to alert him to Kurama's movement's and maybe trip him up enough for Yusuke to clear out the apartment while he grabbed the woman and left via one of the bedroom windows.

Until then, the table would bar Kurama's way. Hopefully.

Exhaling, Yusuke headed back towards the dining room where everyone was sitting, apparently still waiting to eat something for dinner. Pausing in the door way, he looked over everyone present before his dark eyes flickered over to Keiko as she shifted slightly in her seat so that she was facing him.

Her dark eyes questioning.

He gave her one of his usual cocky smiles that he knew infuriated her to no end and then walked over to the table and re took his former chair and then grabbed Keiko's plate and fixed her some food. If he was going to clear this place out at the drop of a hat, he'd have to see to it that everyone was fed first since everyone would be less likely to question why they were abandoning the apartment when there was still food present.

Some people simply didn't have very good priorities.

Or common sense. But whatever, that was what he was for. To help them figure out what was more important. Full stomachs or the possibility of winding up in the local morgue.

To be honest, he was hungry enough right now to lean his priorities towards food himself.

Once he finished fixing Keiko's plate, he set it back down in front of her and then tapped the table with a blunt fingernail that until earlier today had been a small claw, and muttered. "Eat." His tone was gentle, coaxing, and yet firm at the same time.

It was the one tone that Keiko had learned over the years not to disobey or question.

The other's however...

"Hey where's Kurama?"

"Resting." Yusuke said curtly, not wanting to say anything else until he had some time to consult Koenma and possibly even Hiei on what he had witnessed just a few minutes ago. After all, there was little point in alarming anyone just yet.

Koenma and Hiei may be able to provide him with some information about demon claims that he didn't already know of. Or perhaps give him some insight as to what Kurama had been thinking.

In the meantime he'd have to play it cool.

"What? But he seemed perfectly fine a while ago." Shizuru said, her expression more or less a little stunned. Something that she quickly masked before saying, "What's going on?"

"It's none of your business Shizuru, so just drop it." Yusuke said quietly as he grabbed Kurama's plate and began piling smoked fish, and some choice bits of vegetable's onto it before grabbing the soup and rice bowls and quickly filling them so that Kurama wouldn't have to worry about starving later on.

Besides, he doubted that his friend would feel up to cooking once he returned to his senses.

It sometimes took days for one's spiritual and demonic energy to replenish itself after a claim was initiated. So putting what he could back for Kurama to eat later on was a wise choice. At least until he could come back tomorrow around noon, and fix him something for lunch and dinner.

Though he doubted that he'd stick around for long if Kurama began to growl at him again like a flipping rabid animal.

Say what one must about the hybrid, but those damned growls of his were fucking creepy.

Placing Kurama's things in the fridge so that none of it would spoil, Yusuke then turned to return to his seat but noted that no one was eating with the exception of Keiko, whom occasionally shot him funny looks in between taking small bites of food.

"Well what the hell is wrong with you guys? Eat so we can get the hell out of here?" Yusuke said firmly as he glared at Botan, Shizuru and Kuwabara.

"Is something wrong Yusuke?" Botan finally asked before tacking on. "You seem to be in an aweful rush."

"Maybe I just want to get all of you fed so that we can leave here. I've got a woman in need of cuddling and another in need of a place to stay for a while."

Keiko paused eating in mid motion to put her chop sticks down and ask, "W-What?"

"What?" Yusuke parroted back, playing dumb while knowing damn well she was asking him what he meant by saying, _'Another in need of a place to stay.'_ However his not-really-clever ploy to deter his wife from asking questions didn't exactly work.

Not that he actually expected it too anyways.

He simply hadn't wanted to argue about things with her at the moment. He had hoped to pull the wool over her eyes just long enough to cuddle her for a bit at home and get her in a really, really good mood so that she would be more understanding.

"Yusuke-"

"Yes dear."

Instead of asking the question that he had expected, his wife and mate simply asked him in her _I'm-not-taking-any-of_ _your-bullshit_ tone of voice, "What is going on?"

Knowing that she probably knew something was up anyways from his behavior, Yusuke sighed and sat back down beside her and tried to think for a moment on what needed to be said. He didn't want Kurama to get into trouble with spirit world for what he had done, especially since he had heard rumors that on occasion those who laid claim to other's without their knowledge wound up being disposed of.

And after all the good that Kurama had done, he didn't deserve that.

Even if Yusuke was _still_ technically pissed at him.

"Yusuke-" Keiko said again, trying to prompt him to speak as he glanced at her and then looked right at Botan and said simply.

"Kurama fucked up. He's laid a claim on that woman, _without_ her permission." At which point Botan gasped and tried to jump up out of her chair only to find that Yusuke had his feet hooked around the legs and wasn't going to allow her to jump up and fly off to see Koenma and getting Kurama into trouble.

At least not until he managed to speak with Hiei and Koenma both about the mater.

"But that's terrible Yusuke! What the devil was Kurama thinking? He knows that laying a claim on an innocent human is a crime of the worst sort!" Botan cried. Literally.

Her neon pink eyes were shimmering with unshed tears as she stared at him in horror. Yusuke suddenly felt the nearly overwhelming urge to get up and got beat the crap out of the disoriented and weakened fox.

However, it had been a long day and night for all of them. Himself included, so he'd beat the hell out of him tomorrow if he was feeling better.

It was the more sporting thing to do. And this way Kurama wouldn't be likely to up and die on him, taking the woman with him.

"I know," Yusuke said as he reached across the table to wipe the tears from Botan's face even as she began sniffling. _My poor reaper-girl_. _Us stupid jerks are always breaking your heart._ Yusuke thought fondly as he re-seated himself again.

"Wait- What the hell is a 'claim' and why is it so damn bad?" Shizuru asked as she looked at Yusuke, pegging him with a hard stare that dared him to try and ignore her question.

Yusuke wasn't sure exactly how to explain just what a demon claim was to them but he took his best shot at humanizing it for everyone. "A demon claim usually occurs between family members with extremely strong powers or mates. Generally speaking there are several kinds. 1) Is the kind between family, is generally where one with a strong ability lays claim to one of their kin who may possess an even greater ability. The stronger the power, the more the claim is needed to act as a buffer to keep the power under control should it go haywire. There is however adverse affects. One is a violent backlash that can kill one or even both of the people involved."

"2) A claim between mates- while it isn't a crime and can actually be a very good thing. It's an intimate bond where you share a part of your very heart and soul with your mate. There are few chances for an adverse affect the longer the claim is in play and the more the two grow to know and love each other. For instance, when I laid my claim on Keiko- I was still just a kid, so we had a lot of time to get to know each other and strengthen the bond."

Keiko blinked as her face slowly turned that cute shade of pink that he adored.

"However this isn't true for everyone. Some of the adverse affect involved are basically energy vampirisim. The one with the strongest power usually winds up sucking the very life energy from the weaker one until they fall ill and die. And then like I mentioned before there is also the backlash."

"Tying yourself even in the smallest of ways to someone you don't know- is dangerous for even those with even the smallest traces of demon blood in them. And Kurama is well over a thousand years old. He knows this so-"

Shizuru held her hand up to stop him for a second and asked, "Okay, you've sort of told us what a demon claim is but I get the feeling that your leaving something important. Why is Botan so upset? Why do you look like you'd like nothing more than to beat our favorite fox? Stop beating around the bush and just tell us why what Kurama has done is considered a crime."

Yusuke sighed tiredly and used his index finger to scratch just above his right eye before saying, "Laying a demon claim on someone who is unaware is...uh..."

"It's the equivalent of a human rape. But only in the fact that the spirit is what will suffer." Botan suddenly said, causing everyone but Yusuke and herself to recoil in shock.

"Is that true?!" Keiko demanded to know when she finally pulled herself together.

Yusuke shot a dirty look at Botan who squirmed a little in her seat as he nodded his head. "Yeah. Basically. That's why the one being claimed should always be aware of what is happening. If Kurama had wanted to really claim the woman as his, he should have asked her permission and explained things to her since it's her _heart_ and _soul_ that he's tampered with."

"And that's why you want to bring her with us? To keep Kurama away from her?" Keiko asked. Yusuke nodded.

"Yeah, since I know some of the side effects that those with demon blood go through- At this point, keeping Kurama away from her before he can do more damage would be for the best. Plus it would give me some time to get into contact with Koenma and Hiei and talk with them. Worst case scenario, I have to kill Kurama. Best case scenario, I'll either have to get Hiei or Koenma to help me weaken the claim. Technically speaking it would mean that those in demon world would recognize the woman as my...uh..." Yusuke hesitated because he knew that if he followed through with the rest of his sentence, he was likely to wind up sleeping on the floor of his living room indefinitely since he'd be banned from the bedroom and the couch.

"Other mate." Keiko supplied, causing him to flinch slightly before Botan quietly said,

"It would only be in name only Keiko. And it is only as a last resort. If Kurama can't be reasoned with or dealt with in a civil manner. After all, the last thing Yusuke wants is to have to fight his friend to the death. Especially if it means killing the woman as well."

At this bit of information Keiko sighed, her anger suddenly draining away as quickly as it had surfaced as she looked at Yusuke and asked, "Is that true?"

Yusuke wasted no time in nodding his head as he mentally thanked Botan for that.

As nice as it was to know that his woman could kick his ass when she needed too, he wasn't looking forward that the ass kicking she'd likely to have given him this night.

He doubted that she'd let him live if he sort of married another woman even if it was to just save her life. But thankfully she was feeling merciful after Botan's explanation. So maybe he was safe.

Keiko picked up her chop sticks again and said, "Okay, she can stay with us. It might be nice to have another woman around to help keep you in line. But if I find you sneaking into her room after hours..."

"I would never do that."

"Good. Because I'd have to remove a vital part of your anatomy if you did." Keiko said as she began eating again.


	11. Chapter 11

"So Botan... Tell me about the woman. Does spirit world have any dirt on her?" Yusuke asked after several moment's of silence, needing something aside from his talk with everyone to occupy his mind for the moment and distract him. And what better way to distract himself than to do some reconnaissance on the person his friend had claimed?

Botan looked up from pushing around her barely touched food and blinked at him before saying in a dazed tone, "Oh. Yes, one moment," And then took a second to use her spirit energy to materialize the files, video's and other things that Koenma had given to her for Yusuke and... She swallowed past the lump in her throat and had to bite her lower lip to keep herself from crying again as she scooted everything within Yusuke's reach and then quietly began to debrief him and the others.

"The woman's name is Samantha Christopher Carter. She was born on December the thirteenth at twelve am on the dot. Her parents are deceased- They were killed when she was three and she was found alone in their home among their mangled bodies almost two weeks after their death. She has one sibling, an older brother who was in the U.S military at the time. After learning of what had happened to their parents and his sister, he left the military to go and raise her with the help of their elderly grandparents, William and Caroline Thomson."

"Shortly after being taken in by her brother, her powers began to appear. She would have nightmares about terrible tragedies occurring and would try to tell her brother and grandparents- However they didn't believe her until an incident occurred at her school."

"Apparently some older kids with guns took everyone hostage after killing most of the teachers and staff, and they were going to blow up the school with the kids and themselves inside..." Botan paused as Yusuke looked at her for what must have been the fifth or sixth time in so many seconds. His expression dark.

He wanted to ask her what happened, but didn't bother since it looked like she was taking a moment to collect herself before she finally decided to continue. "She killed them Yusuke. The people who had killed the teachers and staff and were going to blow up the school... She killed them using a strong burst of energy not entirely unlike your spirit gun. But in doing so, she pretty much outed herself as someone special and unique to this world. Not only that but she did considerable damage to her own body in the process."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well from what I read and saw earlier in her files, when the authorities finally got to the place where the children were being held- they expected to find a building full of corpses and instead found a whole building full of crying, and scared children. And one lying on the floor going through death throes. From the pictures I saw in Samantha's file, she had used too much power and it had basically ripped her body apart. Her left arm was almost completely severed, her right hand was lying across the room and there was a deep wound in her chest that looked as if her energy had been trying to force it's way from her body."

"Her heart stopped on the way to the hospital and she was pronounced dead after a while, however while she was still in the ER right before everyone could leave- eyewitness's gave various accounts on how she 'came back' and opened her eyes and just started screaming and thrashing around. It really scared everyone. So the knocked her out and resumed their work on reconnecting her limbs and sewing up her torso and then placed her in a medically induced coma to allow her to heal."

"During which time, rumors began to spread about the 'demon' girl residing in the hospital."

"She saved all of those kids at great cost to her herself, and everyone called her a demon." Keiko sad, her voice that weird combo of sad and fierce at the same time as she spat, "Those cowards!" Causing Yusuke to blush a bit as Botan blinked at her and Shizuru smiled.

"I couldn't agree more, Keiko. Just because a person is capable of remarkable and incredible things, doesn't make them a monster." The older woman said as she began to imagine later on pumping the girl for info on the people who had spread the damn rumors.

It may be a few years too late- but she just might decide to go to the U.S and look a few of them up for the simple pleasure of beating the stupidity out of them.

Botan smiled faintly at her friends before she began speaking again, "It was around the time that she was placed in her coma that new spread about her and her...abilities. Now some people in her community were very disturbed by the fact that someone they believed to be one of their own had been hiding such dangerous powers. And others were so sickened by the thought of her continued surivial that the arranged several attempts on her life before she could be woken up. They reasoned that they should, strike while the iron was hot, and she was too weak and drained to defend herself."

There was a deadly look in Yusuke's dark eyes that spoke volumes of the rage he must be feeling on the woman's behalf.

After all, there were two things that the young Makozu hybrid held sacred.

Children. And women.

Anyone who dared to lay hands on either in his presence would die screaming. Of that Botan was acutely aware.

"Go on Botan," Yusuke said as he cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Tell us the rest."

"Well, their attempts failed thanks to a combination of the girl's powers manifesting and due partially to her families efforts. However it didn't end without a cost. For the most part the girl was able to use some of her more weaker powers to protect herself by using things like astral projection, telepathy, telekinesis. And when she wasn't too weak to protect herself, her brother, grandfather and grandmother did the work for her. But I doubt that even in her weakened state that she simply left them to do everything alone. It _is_ possible that she used her astral projection to watch over them."

"Anyways, the day that she was to be taken out of her coma and awakened finally came and... It was also the day that her grandmother was grabbed just outside of the hospital and her throat was slit and she died. Apparently one of the local ministers from a local church had gone off the deep end and decided that if killing her wouldn't work then he'd simply have to exercise the demon from her body through torture."

"After killing her grandmother, he managed to sneak into her room dressed as a doctor and he stole her from her bed and just walked out of the hospital with her."

Everyone was starting to look a little green at this point, even Yusuke's usually rock steady nerves of steel were beginning to fray a bit.

"Go on." Yusuke urged her even though the look on his face was practically screaming, _'Shut up! I can't hear you! LA, la, la, la, la!'_

"They didn't find her for almost three months," Botan said before she reached out and carefully pulled Samantha's file from underneath Yusuke's hands and flipped it open so that she could pull out some pictures to show them. "These pictures were only taken during her stay at the hospital and several weeks after her extraction from the madman's grasp. Everything was cataloged to the best of the local authorities abilities, however due to the severity of some wounds- no pictures were taken of specific areas." Botan explained as she placed two photo's side by side.

One was of Samantha at the age of five or six.

Yusuke noted the differences automatically. Being as one of them was the child's vivid apple red colored hair that hung in soft waves and curls down to the middle of her back from a ponytail. Her little pixie like face was framed by her jaw length bangs as a small, almost shy smile graced her lips.

She was wearing a turquoise colored pixie or nymph dress with different colored layers of sheer clothe around her slender hips to act as a skirt and her top was a matching colored turquoise spaghetti strap shirt with whisps of layered sheer clothe attached to the thin straps covering her shoulders.

And on her back was a large set of what looked like handmade green, turquoise, lavender purple and pink colored butterfly wings.

Samantha had been a beautiful kid, Yusuke thought before shifting his attention to the white haired seven or eight year old in the next photo.

Frowning slightly, he studied the picture.

The girl in this picture was so much different from the first. She was a little older, more worn, and sadder looking. Her once vibrant red hair was now a much shorter (it barely touched her small shoulders) almost unnatural color of white.

She was wearing an overly large white cotton shirt without pants or shorts underneath it. And was sitting in what looked like a window seat with the side of her head pressed against the glass. Her slender arms were wrapped around herself, and he could vaguely make out a hospital bracelet on one of her wrists over what looked like some bandages.

Her once sparkling teal colored eyes were void of life, dead looking.

It was disturbing. So he placed the picture aside and then began to go through the others that Botan had pulled out for him as Kuwabara and Shizuru reached out and snatched up the first two pics and began to check them out. Apparently their curiosity won out over common sense.

Yusuke took several moments to study each and every photo, his stomach twisting itself into knots more and more with each one that he saw. His mind denying the fact that anyone could do such horrible things to an innocent kid even though part of his acknowledged the fact that he was wrong.

People did terrible things to kids _all_ the time.

They kidnaped them, raped them, sold them as slaves or for spare parts, murdered them in vicious and painful ways and left their little bodies to rot where they fell...

Oh yes- he knew that people did terrible things to children all the time. But this- what he was seeing evidence of- it went beyond the scope of even his imagination.

The scars littering Samantha's body had to be truly staggering. Even by his standards. And from someone who had survived fighting against his demon ancestor, two demon tournaments, a psycho hell bent on destroying the world and many, many other things- that was truly saying something.

Slamming the pictures down onto the table Yusuke jumped to his feet and shouted, "What the fuck Botan! Why didn't anyone help her? Why didn't spirit world intervene or something?"

"I...don't know Yusuke. I wish I did, but-"

"She was a freaking kid!" Yusuke shouted, pissed that no one had helped the girl when she needed it the most.

"She still is, you idiot!" Botan finally got pissed enough to shout back. "She's seventeen and the last of her family died six months ago while she was working with the local police on a serial murderer case."

That certainly shut the former spirit detective up fast.

So fast that he whipped his head around to glare at her and popped his neck in the process. The very sound of his bones popping in such a way after such a quick movement made the reaper wonder if he hadn't just almost broken his own neck.

To be perfectly honest the thought was creepy.

Very much so.

"She worked with the cops?" Yusuke asked causing Botan to hesitate slightly at the curious tone in his voice before nodding her head.

"Well, yes. She began working with them about a year and a half after her retrieval. A lot of the guys on the force were, well, beholden to her for saving their kids and other family members and such during the school incident. So even though many feared and hated her- they couldn't deny that she had a talent that they didn't."

"So they exploited her." Yusuke said in a low growling tone that made Botan smile a little bit as she slowly shook her head no.

"No. She volunteered for the job. After all, she wanted to put herself to use. To sort of make sense of all of the bad things that had happened up until then... I believe she was beginning to think herself a monster and was merely trying to give back something in order to preserve her humanity."

"So she volunteered for the work, even though she knew she might likely come to regret it. And Yusuke she did such wonderful work. Her record is amazing! She's solved over a thousand and thirty eight cases. She's famous in the U.S for her abilities. She made a lot of good people happy by helping to return their loved ones and even to get closure for the ones that couldn't be found."

"There's something that you aren't telling me." Yusuke accused her after a moment or so and Botan began to look uncomfortable.

"Well, it's like this. Samantha is a very powerful psychic among other things, and her power, when it was last gauged was off the charts. Similar only to one other person that we know of. I'm sure that you know what I'm talking about." He did. Though he was loathe to admit it. "Anyways, Koenma has recently become concerned that she may inevitably become like Sensui was. Sure she isn't now, but if things continue on as they have been- she might. _Might_ , of course being the operative word here."

"Okay. So?"

"Well, the main reason Koenma believed this is that it has come to our attention that on the last case she worked on in the U.S, a nasty apparition was involved in the case. In fact he was the main instigator. He was kidnapping young girls Samantha's age and torturing them to death. And somehow along the way, he figured out that she was onto him. So he began to kidnap girls and alter their appearances. Changing the color and style of their hair as well as the color of their eyes to match her own and then he took his time with each of them."

"The last few that she found were girls that she knew and were friends with. He had each one strung up, wrapped in barbed wire. He had removed the eyes and tongues and had killed them slowly in one of the most brutal ways imaginable. Samantha was so distraught that she had to be taken to a local hospital where she was checked in for observation and treatment. She was there for well over a year, I think. Once she got out, she came here."

Growling again in frustration, Yusuke began to pace back and forth as he thought.

"So what does this have to do with her possibly becoming another Sensui?" He finally asked in an annoyed tone.

"The apparition, Yusuke. He's been dogging her steps even since her case. Apparently he's quite taken with her." Botan said gently causing him to pause and look at her again before asking.

"Wait. Are you saying that the sicko has a crush on her?"

"I think it's more than that. From what little intel we have on him, he wishes to get his hands on her and keep her as his mate. He's been contacting her through telepathy and telling her terrible things to try and make her vulnerable so that he can attack."

"Great." Yusuke muttered in a dark tone as he thought, _Well at least the bastard isn't Hiei..._

He hoped.


	12. Chapter 12

Kurama lay on his bed, disoriented yet aware.

His ears picking up the vague snippets of conversation from the other room as one clawed hand gripped tightly the shoe that Yusuke had thrown at him earlier as his other clawed hand began to viciously tug at his clothing in an attempt to partially rid him of the coarse material as his body temperature spiked as if he were in heat.

He half rolled onto his back, he let out a low growl of annoyance when his uncoordinated movements caused him to accidentally dig his own claws into his chest just enough to leave several long, red, angry looking marks against his soft human skin as he slowly pushed himself upright and felt his shirt slip from his shoulders.

His normally wild mane of red hair was tousled, and his emerald eyes glittering as he slowly began to scan the room for the reason he was in this- this state. Seeing as it wasn't a natural state for him to be in.

His eyes carefully going over every little thing in an effort to find what it was that was causing him to feel... So goddamn _hot_ that he could feel his body beginning to sweat from it. And after spending several moments searching, let out a low rumbling growl when he couldn't find her.

Wait.

Her?

Who was her-er _she_?

He closed his eyes and searched his mind, finding his most recent memories were filled with a white haired, teal eyes beauty.

Tilting his head back a bit as he slipped from the bed, his long hair falling over his shoulders as he stumbled a little bit towards the door of the room, he could smell the female. Her scent was so-so... _intoxicatingly delicious_ that he could feel his demon energy begin to prickle along his sensitized skin as the blood rushed to his lower body.

His shirt fell to the floor as he staggered almost drunkenly over to the door, wishing to leave the room and find his white haired female.

She smelled so good even from here.

Like honey and cinnamon.

He licked his lips hungrily. Wishing that he was with the female so that he could taste the honey and cinnamon taste of her skin and her core. His tongue running along his lower lip before returning to the moist cavern of his mouth where one of his smaller, more human sized fangs somehow managed to prick it. Forcing a very soft moan full of sexual need from his throat.

As he finally managed to each the door before placing his hands against the cool wood to test it and see if there was any shield or barrier energy that he'd have to break down just to reach her.

When he felt no zap or shock coming from the wood, he let his lips curve into a slightly demented looking smirk as he scraped his claws along the wood his appearance slowly changed from that of his human form to his demon one.

His breathing leaving his lungs in little pants, he slipped his hand along the wood- searching, searching- ah-ha! There it was. The knob.

One turn of it and he'd be out of this blasted room and on his way back to his female's side in an instant. Not knowing that thanks entirely to the efforts of his friend, the former spirit detective of spirit world- his female was already far his reach.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************)

Yusuke had known the moment that Kurama's energy had spiked that it was only a matter of minutes before the fox demon was on the move. And as such had acted accordingly. Having Botan quickly collect all of the files and other things on Samantha and place them back in between where she usually kept all things that she carried while in the human realm.

And all but ordered her and the others to vacate the apartment just in case a fight was to break out between himself and his friend (he wanting nothing that Kurama could use against him, and that included collateral damage) and after giving his wife a quick kiss- he had gone tearing out of the kitchen and slipped into the guest room after taking a moment to check on the table in front of Kurama's door.

Yeah, it was still in place.

Would it hold a determined demon?

Uh- _no_. No it would not.

Not as long as the claim on Samantha was in play and Kurama's rational mind was lost to his demon instincts. Turning away from the door for a moment, Yusuke looked over at the still figure on the bed. His dark eyes roaming her features appreciatively.

She really was a pretty little thing.

Probably even more so than his wife and mate. However he was at a loss as to what to do. He'd basically backed himself into a corner here by explaining some of the things that had to do with demon claims. However he had forgotten to mention just one or two minor details.

Aside from the fact that he couldn't allow Kurama to have her and he couldn't at the moment break the claim on her without claiming her for himself.

Which if he were perfectly honest with himself, he didn't think he would mind all that much if not for the fact that Keiko might not understand (or in this case- care) and might actually force his demon side to come out to deal with her. Which depending on the situation could be or couldn't be a very fun thing since his instincts would basically demand that he punish her.

And after feeling some of his late father's punishments firsthand, and seeing the damage that they could do to a person like himself, and then taking a moment to imagine that the person being hurt was his wife- he seriously didn't want that.

After all if he wound up having to completely lay claim to Samantha... He would have no choice- He would- His seed- He would need- _It was simply the way that broken claims were ended. It could only be so if the one who broke the first claim placed their own and then put their seed within the one they were claiming._

And he _hated_ that fact since it would essentially mean cheating on Keiko.

Shaking his head at his wayward thoughts he moved over to the bed and stood there for a moment, his dark eyes glowing eerily in the darkness of the room as he reached out and placed his finger tips under her chin and tilted her head back so that he could see her face more clearly as he seemed to be mulling over _something_ that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

His inner demon stirring just enough to speak to him.

 _There is such fragileness hiding her strength._

He couldn't argue with that. After all, the poor girl had been trapped in a shit storm since early childhood. And the shit had just been piling up ever since.

Most people would have broken long before now. Most people would have died. He thought as his demon said, _She needs us... She needs us. We could protect her. We could save her..._

Keiko would murder him. Even if it was to save Samantha's life- she would still murder him.

 _No_ \- not just murder him, but bring him back to life, beat the shit out of him and then kill him again just to repeat the process until she tired of doing so. And then she would simply raise him from the dead as a zombie willing to bend to her every whim and desire.

He jumped a little bit when he heard a loud crash out in the hallway and sighed as he bent down and quickly gathered Samantha up in his arms and then moved across the room to one of the windows as he heard Kurama moving around out in the hallway.

Opening the window, Yusuke was careful not to injure the precious cargo that he carried as he slipped from the apartment and used some of his demon energy to help him quickly escape knowing that if he didn't get as far away as he could before Kurama came through the bedroom door- then he would have to stay and possibly fight him to the death.


	13. Chapter 13

Yusuke didn't stop moving well until the early morning hours.

 _After_ he had placed Samantha's unconscious body in a little nook on a building rooftop well over a mile away from Kurama's home, after of course, he had stripped her of her hoody so that he could leave several false trails for the fox demon to follow so that Yusuke could take Sam and disappear.

He wasn't sure how many false trails he'd lain.

All he knew was that even in Kurama's currently weakened and disoriented state- it was a _bad_ idea to underestimate the fox.

It had taken far more time than he had intended for it too. Hours and hours of laying false trails in every direction, before he had returned to the place where he had left Samantha and carefully redressed her in her hoody after feeling how chilled her pale skin was. And then he gently gathered her slightly shivering body up in his arms and with one last cautious look in the direction of Kurama's home- he was gone in a blur of movement that even his speedster friend Hiei would be hard pressed to track.

His feet hitting the pavement on the ground below with a practiced ease that by all rights would have either left a normal human crippled for life or bleeding out in the street, howling in agony.

Moving silently along the streets towards his home, his mind raced as he glanced down at the woman- er, girl. He meant girl. Since the little fact about her age had been outed by Botan- he'd well... He had more than felt for the girl before after Botan had briefed him on just some of the things that the kid had had to deal with growing up. He hadn't meant to start lusting after her too.

That was just- just too damn cruel.

And he was sure that the girl wouldn't appreciate it much either. He thought with a wry grin of amusement as he turned the corner and began to head towards the house across the street and was somewhat startled when he saw Botan and Shizuru standing outside, waiting on him.

"Yusuke!" Botan called out as she waved her hand and jumped up and down in place. He allowed himself a moment of affection for the woman as he sort of came to a stand still in the middle of the street.

Not exactly the smartest of things to do when carrying an unconscious person in his arms, he'd admit, but he simply couldn't help himself at the moment.

Botan's actions triggered a lot of pleasant memories in him before he shook his head and resumed moving until he was finally across the street where the women were.

"Hey. What are you two doing here? I thought everyone went home." Yusuke said as he looked from one woman to the other before getting a head shake from both.

"I can't leave you just yet. I'm supposed to stick around for the next month or so to help with Samantha." Botan said.

"And Kazuma and I decided that if you guys were on another job then we should at least be present to learn what our part in it would be. Besides- we just got a phone call from an very angry fox..." Shizuru said as she held up the phone in her hand that Yusuke hadn't even noticed and pressed a button so that Yusuke could hear the message.

There was a lot of heavy breathing at first, followed by Yoko's voice- not Kurama's- Yoko's.

 _Oh this is bad, so- so very bad_. Yusuke thought as Yoko's voice broke off and he let out an enraged growl as something in the background was either tossed or thrown into a wall or something else causing it to shattered. The growl then became garbled bits and pieces of words that at first were difficult for Yusuke to understand. But after replaying the message several times and listening to it, he eventually picked up on what Yoko was saying and his heart plummeted.

"Oh fuck." Yusuke muttered as he caught the words. _Mine, chosen, mate, return, blood, blood, blood..._ "Guy's we need to get the hell out of the city. Now. Tonight." Yusuke said after a moment or so of thinking that his old friend had lost his goddamn mind.

Both women looked at him like he was crazy until he growled at them and bit out, "He plans to murder every damn one of us once he manages to center himself enough to leave home. Which will be in the next hour or two. So pack your shit and get in the fucking van." Yusuke said nothing more as the two women turned and hurried inside of his home to tell Kuwabara and Keiko that they were leaving town.


	14. Chapter 14

**Yo- glad everyone is liking the story so far.**

 **At this point I'm trying to determine whether or not Yusuke will play a bigger role in the story before Sam winds up with Kurama.**

 **But I'm not totally one hundred percent sure just yet since Sam will only wind up with Kurama after specific things occur.**

 **BTW the chap will show Sam's thoughts and dreams. Fair warning- I'm planning for a majority of it to be mindless smut between both Kurama/Sam and Yusuke/Sam.**

 **So enjoy!**

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Sam lay in the back of the van in the small area between the seats and the luggage where he had fashioned a make shift bed for her, completely unaware of the fact that she- along with her guardian and his wife and friends- were currently on the move to a mountain location.

All she knew was what she had been picking up on in vague impressions of emotions ranging from anger, to fury, to lust. Dear god there was lust.

And it was so unbelievably strong that it was almost a tangible thing that she could barely tell who or where it was coming from. Sure she was used to picking up on lust from her 'friend'. He usually fed her mind terrible images of pain and suffering that left her feeling sick and dirty for weeks after.

Almost as if by feeding her mind those things, he was raping her.

 _She hated it._

But the lust that she had been picking up on for a while now...belonged to two separate individuals. One red. And one green.

Red's lust for her was odd. Almost loving and gentle despite the desperate hunger that lurked in it's depths. Where as green was protective, careful, kind and just a little more reluctant to act on his emotions than red was.

Red felt that she was his and his alone.

Green felt that red had done her a terrible wrong and only wanted what was best for her. Even if he had to fight red and possibly kill him to protect her.

She didn't like the feelings that they were both invoking in her, but some part of her understood them. At least a little bit. She just wished that they would both stop projecting their deeper and more primal urges onto her in her current vulnerable state.

But she couldn't seem to form the words on her tongue. Much less manage to open her eyes.

And then she felt it again, the weightlessness of her body almost as if she were free falling and she knew what was coming next. Her fingers twitched and she let out an inaudible sound or slight discomfort before she was once again back in Red's grasp.

 _He was waiting for her. Sitting up on his bed with one hand curved around a smashed up cordless phone and his other arm was resting on his knee. His long red hair was in his eyes and the upper part of his body was completely devoid of clothing._

 _And for a moment, he appeared as if he didn't notice her standing there. For all appearances he looked fairly relaxed, almost as if he were resting. But the second she moved towards him, he had her._

 _He moved so fast that there was no way that he could be a normal human. His reflexes were simply too quick._

 _One moment she was standing, fully clothed and the next she was laying on her back under him, his mouth pressed against her own in a heated kiss as he deftly managed to remove her hoody and shirt- all without removing his mouth from her- as he straddled her hips with his own and slipped his hands underneath her and pulled her body closer to his own._

 _He ravished her lips for another few moments before pulling back for air, though he didn't move far. His face was only a hairs breath away from her own, his dark green eyes had a golden yellow tint to them as he stared down at her for a moment before breathing, "Where are you?"_

 _Sam blinked through the haze that had settled in her mind upon being kissed and was unsure of how to respond. She was there, wasn't she? And as if to answer her unasked question, he slowly shook his head no._

 _"No. You are not here. You're physical body is not here."_

 _Oh. Was all Sam could seem to think before taking in his semi state of undress and flush a little bit before tacking on, That's a bummer._

 _Red quirked his lips in amusement and leaned back over her to give her a slow, toe curling kiss that made heat pool low in her abdomen as an ache settled in between her legs._

 _Jerking back away from her, Red tilted his head back and sniffed the air for a moment before settling unblinking golden yellow eyes upon her and half growling out, "I can smell your want. Your need," Before asking again, "Where are you?"_

 _"I-I don't know." Sam almost whimpered as he gave her a slightly disapproving look before a slightly sinister smile curved his lips and he moved so that he could adjust their position a bit. Spreading her legs so that he could settle his hips between them. And once that was done, he moved._

 _Dear god- the way he moved was meant to drive her crazy! She knew that much. There was simply no other way a man could use his hips in such a sinfully sensual manner._

 _The very action ripped a scream from her throat, which seemed to goad him on. He moved again, his entire body rubbing against her own like a big cat or snake or something._

 _This time she really did whimper as she felt him kiss her shoulder, and then her throat, lightly nipping at the ender skin of her earlobe as he lifted her hips slightly and pressed against her core hard enough to drive the breath from her lungs and to make her see stars._

Then as quickly as it had began, she felt Green's presence ripping Red away from her. Could hear the faint sounds of animalistic growling as everything spun and shifted and changed.

And the next time she opened her eyes...

 _She was completely and utterly naked with the exception of a thin sheet that Green had her wrapped up in. Because unlike Red he apparently cared about her modesty enough to cover her even though she wasn't the only one naked._

 _She was resting in his lap, her head against his shoulder as he combed his finger's through her long white hair for several moments before finally speaking._

 _"Are you hurt?" He looked down at her, his dark eyes almost glowing in the faint light. Sam slowly shook her head no and he looked more than a little bit relieved. "I'm glad." He said very softly as he stood, and at first she thought that he intended to put her down, but he didn't._

 _He merely settled her in the crook of one arm and began walking._

 _At first there was nothing around them. No buildings, no vehicles, no light, just a lot of white noise and static surrounding them. And then after a moment or so, that slowly began to change._

 _It first started with the ground, then little flower petals began drifting past them. One or two of them even brushed against her skin causing her to shiver a little bit until she felt Green place a hand on her back and gently rub her skin as if he thought that she may be cold or something._

 _Which she very well may have been. She didn't really know._

 _It was difficult to tell once his hand drifted and settled on her are thigh, causing her to squeak a bit and dig her nails into his shoulder._

 _"Relax. There isn't really much that can be done here since this is the world between waking and sleep."_

 _"You mean that this is a dream?"_

 _"Something like that," Green said cryptically as he finally set her down on a large tree root before stepping back a little bit. "I think of it more like a place where the spirit dwells when resting." He said with a hint of a smile._

 _"I see. So what am I to do here?"_

 _"That depends on you," Green said as he tilted his head back a little bit before asking, "What do you want to do?"_

 _"I don't know. It's rare for me to dream without nightmares." Sam said as she looked away from him. Green frowned at her and then reached out and forced her to turn her head back around to look at him._

 _"You got a bum deal Samantha. No one in their right mind could dispute that. But what you do here, in between worlds is entirely up to you. Do you want to relive a pleasant memory? See someone that you haven't seen in a while?"_

 _"T-There aren't really any pleasant things that I could think of." She finally said after a length of time. Green sighed and rubbed his eyebrow with his thumb before muttering,_

 _"Yeah, I figured... How about this then, I'll give you a few pleasant memories to dream of."_

 _"H-How?"_

 _"Well, we can talk. Or we can do some activity that you enjoy. Like hiking, swimming, knitting-" Sam slowly shook her head no at that last one as Green gave her a crooked grin and said, "You sure? In this world I'm a badass knitter." Again she shook her head no. Growling playfully, he demanded, "Why not?"_

 _Only to look more than a little shocked when she confessed that the last time she had attempted to knit something, she had stabbed a male nurse for touching her._

 _Cocking his head to the side slightly, Green asked, "Where did you get touched?" Causing her face to flame as she looked down at her lap and then looked back up at his face just in time to catch the murderous expression on it before he carefully masked it._

 _"Were you touched anywhere else?" He asked, his voice like quiet thunder. She looked away from him and in the next instant found herself being hauled down from her seat and placed in his lap again as he sat down with her so that she was straddling his hips._

 _He buried his face in the crook of her shoulder and sighed as he held her against his chest as if she were the most precious person in his life._

 _It was an odd feeling, but not entirely unwelcome._

 _And then everything got weird._

 _Like super, crazy, weird._

 _"I'm sorry that that happened to you. I wish that I could say that things will only get better but your already in a bit of trouble," Green said against her shoulder, she blinked and wondered what he meant by that when she felt his fingers lightly pulling at the sheet that she was wrapped up in. "I don't have a lot of time to explain-" Green said as the sheet fell away from her and he pulled back away from her just enough for her to see his expression._

 _He looked...torn. Almost as if he wanted to do something and at the same time he also wanted to put her away from him._

 _Frankly she didn't understand it._

 _But then he apparently didn't really need her too. He reached out and took both of her small hands in his own and placed them on his shoulders and then leaned in and muttered for her to hold on to him. Which in and of itself should have clued her in on what was about to happen._

 _But she was rather naïve for someone her age and ability._

 _It happened so fast, everything seemed to blur together in her head. One moment she was straddling Green and the next she was with Red again._

 _Their bodies joined together and he was slowly stroking her wet inner sheath as he helped her to ride him. A groan coming from his parted lips as he gathered her body close to his own and began kissing every inch of skin that he could reach as he ran his hands along her legs, rear and back._

 _Then just like before she was back with Green, only instead of straddling him, he was leaning over her. His weight resting on his elbows as he buried his face against her throat as slowly fucked her._

 _Things went back and forth a bit for a little while. Both Green and Red seemingly competing for her attentions just before the dream finally reached it's climax._


	15. Chapter 15

Yusuke drove the vehicle up the long winding road that he'd had created for the cabin that rested just shy of the beach over by Genkai's temple.

It was late and everyone but Botan and himself were snoozing. Glancing across the way from him, he stared at his wife for a moment as they finally reached their destination and he parked the van. The sudden lurch of non-movement waking Shizuru who had then awoken her brother by smacking him.

Leaving Yusuke to reach across the seat and lightly shake Keiko awake as he said, "Hey, babe. We're here." Causing Keiko's eyes to flutter open and look around. Taking in the slightly familiar surroundings of the place where she and Yusuke had lived for several months before marrying.

Stretching Keiko looked up at the cabin that Yusuke had had built for them. Recalling how he had had some of his demon buddies help him design the place to be like a fortress. Or a weird four story mid evil castle.

The foundation was simple enough, a brick basement with a built in panic room that led to several escape tunnels (though why the hell they would ever need something like that Keiko had no earthy idea) that ran along the mountain for over a mile and a half in each direction.

Then there was the ground level which held a large dining room, sizable kitchen, living room, a conference room and at least two other rooms. One held some of the stuff that Yusuke had brought back with him from demon world. Gold and silver coins, gems and jewels and such. As well as offering's and gifts from his demon world friends.

While the other was a study with a trick wall in the far back, somewhere along the bookshelves lining the walls where he had hidden an impressive amount of weapons both human and demon origin.

And then there were the nine rooms, twelve spacious bathrooms, the 'tower', and then the master bedroom/bath room.

All in all it was a decent place to hide out at, especially when it was located so closely to Genkai's temple where Yukina and some of the S class demons that used to serve Yusuke's demon father as well as some others- now resided. In fact, Keiko was more than a little shocked that Jin and the others hadn't already popped in to see what was up since they likely knew that Yusuke was back.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Keiko asked around a yawn as she slowly stretched her back and legs a bit to work some of the stiffness out of them.

"I don't know. But I suggest we all get settled in for now. I'll go into town tomorrow and grab some necessities like food, drinks, clothing and stuff."

"We need to get some things for Samantha too."

"I know. I thought I'd see if maybe Botan or Shizuru would mind coming with me since she looks to be around Botan's size. But wears loose clothing and such like Shizuru. Their input would be helpful." Yusuke said as he climbed out of the van and walked back to the back where everyone had more or less gather to get their stuff, and stood waiting for him to unlock the door so that he could collect Samantha and they could get their things as he took a moment to let his spirit energy flair.

Not in greeting or in distress, but in warning to any demon's in the area- friend and foe alike. He would not abide any of them coming to the cabin and scaring Sam...

(***********************************************************************************************************************************)

Jin had been in a sound sleep when he'd felt the all too familiar energy of his old friend Urameshi and had bolted upright in his bed and sat there for a moment, simply letting his ears twitch as he frowned.

It had been nigh on several years since he had last felt that strange tickling sensation brush against his skin. Causing the hairs to stand up like they did during lightning storms. Usually after he got himself zapped a time or two.

Disgruntled by the feeling, he carefully got up ad shuffled himself over to his bed room door and opened it so that he could see if he could place the feeling he was getting when he heard several other bedroom doors open and his friends came out to see what was going on.

"That feels like King Yusuke." One of the S-class demons said almost curiously as he walked up.

Dressed in his sleeping clothes, the demon stood abreast of Jin, his dark eyes searching the forest for something as another demon said, "The energy is close by. Likely coming from the cabin over by the beach."

"Is he in trouble?" Another asked worriedly. And Jin had to hand it to the fellow's- they were a loyal lot when it came to their ruler.

"No," A recognizable voice finally cut it. "He isn't in trouble. He's letting his energy spike as a warning to all demon's in the area. He feels...angry. Frustrated even." Toya said with a slight frown.

"Then we should see what is going on tomorrow. Perhaps he would even tell us why he is back so soon." Another S-class demon suggested as several others agreed.

Yes, they needed to know why Yusuke was back in the area so soon after his marriage/mating. Especially since he had never planned to return while his mate still lived.

So an explanation would be nice. Jin thought in wry amusement as he decided to do a little recon before returning to bed and stepped off of the porch and let his affinity for the wind carry him up, up, up and away.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************)

Yusuke had just finished putting Samantha in the bedroom just down the hall a ways from the master bedroom and was pulling the covers up over her bare shoulder after striping her of her hoody so that she would be more comfortable, when he sensed Jin hovering outside the window watching him curiously as he finished tucking Samantha in before removing himself from the bed, and walking over to the window.

And took a moment to unlock it so that the wind demon could come in for a few moments if he wished.

Despite how the evening had turned out, plus his earlier energy flair, he found that he couldn't be pissed at his old friend for coming to check on him.

The moment that the window was open, the wind demon carefully settled himself on the window sill and sat down. "Urameshi."

"Jin."

"Why did ya send out a warning earlier? What's a goin on? Are you in trouble?" Jin asked, his accent thick as he brought one leg up so that he could rest an arm on his knee.

Yusuke put a finger to his lips and made a soft shushing sound and glanced over his shoulder at the door to the bedroom, hoping that Jin's voice hadn't carried far enough to wake Keiko or any of the others now that they were all resting.

Once he was sure no one was going to come busting through the door, he let out a soft sigh and rubbed at his nape as he asked, "You want the long version of the story? Or the short one?"

Jin's ears twitched for a moment as he leaned his back against the window frame and waited. Not really caring one way or another which version of the story he got just as long as he got one.


	16. Chapter 16

Jin looked down at the white haired human female and cocked his head in an inquisitive manner as he studied her. He wasn't sure what to think about Urameshi's situation. Nor what had caused Kurama to do such a thing to the wee little lass. All he knew was that his good friend was backed into a little bit of a corner concerning the girl and he obviously needed help.

Which had led him to make a proposition of sorts before he decided to leave.

"Ya canna mate the girl Urameshi. Yer current mate would na allow it."

"I know. But I don't want to ask Hiei, god knows what he'd do to the poor girl if he had to step in..." Yusuke said, sounding more upset than he had been when he had explained a majority of the girl's past to him.

"Why not let another of your friends do it?"

"I don't have many demon friends and my human ones wouldn't understand."

"Then let me." Jin said softly. Knowing that what he was suggesting was a life changing event. Especially since wind demon's mated for life. Not only that but if something were to happen to the girl during their time mated, Jin would feel it. Physically as well as mentally since wind demons were capable of sharing telepathic abilities with their mates as sort of a safety net.

Yusuke's reaction was sudden and unexpected, though Jin wasn't totally surprised by it since he had already begun to bond with the little female and his demon side was almost as possessive as his human side.

One minute Jin was standing next to the bed watching the girl sleep and the next his back was slamming into the wall across the room, hard enough to shatter the plaster and Yusuke's hand was wrapped around his throat warningly as he growled at him.

His normally dark eyes glowing eerily in the wane light of the bedroom.

 _"No."_ Yusuke growled out angrily as he slammed Jin's back against the wall again. "She isn't fucking chattel Jin, she's human. _A person_. She has the right to choose for herself... Until then she's under my protection." And with that Yusuke slowly released him and stood back just far enough to allow him to move away from the way so that he could roll his shoulders to ease the discomfort of the bruises he already felt popping up along his back.

"Aye. I know tha. But you need help, Yusuke, and besides- She's a pretty lil thing. And it is well past time I took a mate of me own. I'm not adverse to courting the lass. That is if you would allow it. And if'n I'm not good enough there is always Toya or one of the others."

Yusuke looked at him as if he'd like to hurt him as he mulled over his words and slowly, very slowly, relaxed and nodded his head in either agreement or understanding- Jin didn't know which all Jin knew was that he'd just gotten a possible green light from his friend.

Deciding that that would have to be enough for now, Jin nodded his head and then headed for the window. Pausing only briefly to inform Yusuke that he would probably have visitors in another few hours and he should sleep while he could. And with that, he was gone.

Leaving Urameshi to shake his head a mutter some pretty foul oaths that Jin's freakishly sharp pointy ears could pick up even over the howl of the wind as he flew.

(***********************************************************************************************************************)

A short time later, Jin landing outside of the shrine to find the rest of the demons that lived there standing around, waiting for him. Grunting softly, the wind demon began to brush past the lot of them when he heard Chu ask with a hint of impatience in his voice, "Well? Is it Yusuke?"

Jin wondered briefly if he could somehow give Urameshi more time to settle in and such but thought perhaps he should just say something else instead. Confirm that it was indeed their friend, and then tell them they must wait till dawn or a bit beyond to give Yusuke ample time to rest and ready himself for their company.

And then there was the girl...

He didn't think it was his place to say anything just yet. But the others needed to know that should they encounter the little mite in the forest- they shouldn't attack or eat her.

That would be horrible and would cause Yusuke to hunt each of their sorry asses down.

 _And then there's Kurama..._ What the hell should he say about _that_ particular topic? Should he just let Yusuke tell everyone when he was up to it? Or should he simply tell everyone that Kurama was possibly their enemy now?

Toya would be devastated. After all, he had such a soft spot for the fox.

He felt Rinku tug on his pants leg and sighed as he looked down at the lad. "Did you see Yusuke?" The boy asked. His eyes wide as he looked up at Jin who just simply placed a hand on his head and ruffled his shoulder length brown hair.

"Aye. I saw Urameshi."

"What's he doing here? Did something happen to Lady Keiko?" One of the other demons asked, his tone concerned.

"Nay. She's well." Jin said even though he wasn't totally able to confirm that fact. After all he had only _seen_ Yusuke. Not his mate.

"Then what is Yusuke doing back here? He said that he would only return to this place again once his mate dies." It was Toya who spoke this time.

"Something has happened..." Was all that Jin could think to say before tacking on. "And things have changed. By tha way, Urameshi isn't up for company right now. When you leave tomorrow, make it at a more...pleasant hour." And with that Jin walked off figuring that he'd try sleeping some more before he got up and attempted to tell his friends about his findings.


	17. Chapter 17

Yusuke didn't get a wink of sleep that night.

Why bother when he knew that the next morning would be an emotional roller coaster? What with between probably having to deal with his friends (the demon ones not the humans, he had those covered) and the potential disaster of explaining to Sam about who/what he was as well as his former job and why he had her in his care.

He had to be sure to stress that he only had her best interests at heart.

If he needed backup- he planned to call on Koenma to help. And knowing old pacifier breath the way he did...Koenma just might drop everything to come and see him. God knows that it had been forever and a day since the end of the Demon Tournament and his reinstatement as the rightful ruler of spirit world after his father's rather abrupt 'impeachment' from the throne.

So after Jin's little visit last night, he spent a majority of his time doing the small necessary things that were needed to make everyone comfortable. And in the early morning hours, he showered and dressed for his upcoming day and all of the things that would likely happen.

Making sure to keep at least one or two of his former spirit detective tools on him just in case Sam decided to run and he needed to track her down and bring her back to the cabin safely since there were demons aside from the friendly ones that hung around the forests beyond his home away from home.

And after waiting for hours, and doing a little bit of inventory here and there on the essentials to kill time and see just what exactly he needed before Botan had awoken and he had pulled her off to the side and asked if she could put up a barrier so that he could go into town and buy food, clothing, and feminine items and such.

Upon agreeing the reaper told him that she could manage a serious barrier for about two in a half hours, after that he needed to be back at the cabin so that she could recharge otherwise she would be putting her life at risk.

He'd nodded in understanding and kissed his favorite reaper on the cheek and then went to grab several gold and silver coins from his treasure room to cash in in town so that he could do just that.

After all, he planned to be quick and efficient. Not quick and sloppy.

Being sloppy only ensured that mistakes were made. Things were forgotten. And people (mainly him) would be lynched by the women folk if he forgot things.

So soon after grabbing three silver coins and two gold, Yusuke was out the front door and driving into town. It would take a bout thirty minutes to get there- provided that he didn't get ambushed by his demon friends. And after that his trip should be smooth sailing.

(************************************************************************************************************************************)

Jin had known that his morning wouldn't exactly be...well _pleasant_ due to all the stress and worry his fellow demon were experiencing but the last thing he had expected upon waking up this morning was to find this blasted mess.

He had just come from the dining room after finishing off his breakfast to go find the others, and had walked himself into a damned ambush.

The very second that he had opened the door to the main room had opened several S-class demons (and Chu) had found it necessary to pounced on him and all but hog tied him for their planned interrogation before he could either throw them off or knock them on their asses.

Or more preferably, _out_. There was nothing like starting a good morning by knocking a few demons out.

However once everything was said and done, he somehow managed to toss everyone off and knock a few of the buggers out. In fact at least two of them were hanging from the ceiling fan several feet away. While several others lay at his feet groaning and a few more had been forced through the far wall of the room by his wind.

And with him suddenly feeling an uncharacteristic fit of temper coming on- shredded the ropes wound around him and stepped back outside and with only a nod to the only sane demon's at present, Toya, Yukina, And Rinku, he slammed the door shut behind and began walking into the woods.

He'd likely find himself over at Urameshi's inevitable, but the hour was early yet and he was in no true rush to reach the cabin like fortress since his friend would likely be suffering from frayed nerves. After all, he likely had much he needed to explain to the wee white haired lass this morning.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************)

After reaching town and chucking the coins, Yusuke took the check he had gotten for them by the local bank where he had then set up three new join accounts. One for Sam. Another for Shizuru and Kuwabara. And the last one for Botan since she would likely be staying for an unknown period of time that could range from months to years.

All of which was depended on how long it took for him to resolve things with Kurama and settle Sam into her new role as his protectee and find her a viable mate that he approved of.

After leaving the bank, he headed to the local clothing store and grabbed all manner of things for himself and Kuwabara as well as the girls. He didn't bother with a majority of the sizes and styles he just needed something close to what they wore in size.

Since Sam was a little bit between a cross of Shizuru's size and Botans- he made sure to grab six pairs of jeans for her, six pairs of shorts, some skirts (both long and short) sweaters, sweater dresses, leggings, blouses, cotton t-shirts in every color that he could think of. Hats, purses, wallets, shoes, boots, socks, silk stockings, panties, bras.

And once he was done grabbing those things for her he grabbed some extra for the others until he could get back to the cabin and give each of them their new money cards and let them come into town to grab some more stuff on their own at a later date.

Once he was done collecting clothing, he went by the soap, shampoo, hair dye, toothbrush, lotion, and feminine hygiene isles and grabbed what was needed before heading over to the food section where he grabbed everything from instant ramen to every vegetable and junk food imaginable, to several dozen things of shrimp, salmon, scallops, rice, hamburger meat, chicken, pork chops, and steak along with all kinds of sides and fixings.

Including the girly shit Keiko, Botan and Shizuru sometimes favored on their salads and such.

After that he grabbed four dozen eggs, some cookie stuff, five large jugs of milk, and tea and juice and soda and with a slight yawn, turned his buggy around and went to pay for his stuff after checking his watch.

He'd been gone for almost an hour and forty minutes and he couldn't afford to dally any longer if he was to get home and relieve Botan before the shit hit the fan.


	18. Chapter 18

His female was gone.

 _Where?_ He wondered curiously as he had managed to track her scent outside of his home and onto the streets of the darkened city streets. He didn't bother re dressing, or putting his shoes on again. He doubted that he could have anyways in his current state.

His mind was muddled. Filled with nothing but his female's scent.

Ignoring the interested and curious stares of some of the people out at such a late hour, he found himself walking a block in a half to a cozy yet oddly spacious two story house with a nice fenced in yard.

Cocking his head, he studied the place for a moment or so before deciding that since his female's scent was so thick in the air here then that could only mean that this was her home. Or used to be rather.

He planned to change that once he found her again. However he did expect a measure of resistance. So having things that were familiar to her might help him in his endeavor.

Walking forward, Kurama paused only briefly when he felt a slight electrical shock jolt through his system, forcing a feral sounding growl from his throat as he once again studied the house before finding the source of the shock.

Talismans and wards against demons.

 _My, my_ _but my female is a rather interesting person_. He thought as he absently steeled himself for the burns and discomfort to follow and then began to walk again. Taking his time to use his spirit energy to disrupt the wards and talismans so that he could pass through the barrier and pick the lock to her door.

It didn't take much. A simple bobby pin and the door was open to him.

Stepping inside, he quietly kicked the door closed behind him and tilted his head back on his neck so that he could scent the air. A low purr like sound escaping him as he breathed deep. Committing his females sweet spicy scent to memory so that he could better track her down when he went looking for his friend.

Her home was quaint.

Yet almost barren of any furniture or decoration aside from a few tables, lamps, and couch in the living room, a recliner, a dining room set, and then there was her bedroom.

If ever there was a curious sight it was that.

His female didn't have a normal bed, just a mattress placed on the floor on the far side of the room. There were no sheets nor pillows. Just the mattress. And yet... She didn't sleep here.

 _How odd_. He thought as he walked back out of the room, pausing in the doorway briefly to snag one of the dark hoodies lying on the dresser since it smelled of her. Making his way back through the house, he stopped for a moment when he came across a walk in closet and after throwing the hoodie over one shoulder, opened it so that he could see what was inside.

What he found was unexpected to say the least.

A small refrigerator, some lanterns, a small shelf of books a small table and over against the far wall- a chest. Long and wide, the piece was made of dark oak and he found himself curiously drawn to it. Wishing to see what may or may not be inside, he knelt down next to it and slipped open the lid and looked inside before full realization of what he was looking at even hit him.

The inside of the chest was layered with satin, the bottom filled with a messy cotton quilt and two small throw pillows. There was an indent of what appeared to be a place where a head had been lain and the rest... God her scent was so strong here he could get drunk from it.

Which must have been part of the reason that he didn't realize that he wasn't looking into an ordinary chest. But a coffin.

A very old, and crudely made coffin thoroughly saturated in his female's scent.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************)

Yusuke was back at the cabin within Botan's two in a half hours. Which was good he supposed since she hadn't looked too good upon his arrival. In fact, he'd had to help her back to her room due to the fact that she had expended so much energy that she hadn't been able to walk on her own.

Once Botan was back in bed, Yusuke promised to bring her something to eat in a little while when he checked on her and then left the room for a moment to get a glass of water for her and stopped in mid motion when he found several bags of groceries and clothing sitting on the floor inside the door.

Knowing that Kuwabara and the others wouldn't be up for at least another hour or so- he tilted his head and thinned his lips a bit as he walked over to the door and looked out to see who his secret 'helper' was. And blinked when he saw Toya gathering several more bags to bring inside.

Grunting at the sight of the male, Yusuke shrugged off his presence for the time being and then went off to finish getting Botan a glass of water before he returned to the kitchen to find the demon had already began to put things away.

"Hello Yusuke." Toya greeted without stopping.

"How's it going?" Yusuke greeted back in his typical manner, making the water/ice demon smile somewhat.

"Jin is in a mood. He knocked out a few of your friends for jumping him this morning before wandering off somewhere." Toya said as he felt the former spirit detective move up beside him and begin to help him.

"Is that so..." Yusuke's voice was low. Amused. Yet somewhat guarded at the same time.

Toya didn't like it since the man was usually so open and honest that it sometimes bordered on pathetic. He hummed as he half turned to face his old friend and studied him for a moment before asking, "You wouldn't know anything about Jin's tantrum this morning would you?"

To which Yusuke lied. "Nope." As he sensed faint movement from the stair way, and used his spirit energy to reach out and more or less 'touch' the aura of the person up and moving around and heard a slightly startled yelp and realized that he had just more or less startled Samantha.

Inwardly cringing to himself as he turned around to face the stairs at the exact same moment that she came into view, he felt Toya turn to see what was so interesting to him as well and wanted to swear.

 _This isn't going to be fun_. He thought as he slowly raised his hands to cover his ears a split second before Samantha screamed.


	19. Chapter 19

Everything happened in the span of seconds. Sam let out a frightened scream. Yusuke covered his ears just in time to prevent them from being hurt by the loud piercing sound. Whereas Toya hadn't bothered and thus wasn't so lucky.

Which probably hurt his big fin-like ears much more than it really would have hurt Yusuke, but he didn't feel like tempting fate at the moment.

Anyways, Toya didn't bother covering his ears. Instead he moved across the kitchen in a blur of movement that Yusuke could track rather easily thanks to his demonic blood- and got up in Samantha's face and slapped a hand over her mouth. While simultaneously unbalancing the young woman and causing her to stumble back and hit the wall- _hard_ as Toya pinned her there.

Yusuke dropped his hands away from his ears the second that Sam's scream was muffled behind Toya's hand and with a low growl of annoyance Yusuke moved to get the water/ice demon away from the young woman before he scared her even more than she already was.

"Toya! Get away from her!" Yusuke shouted as he grabbed the demon and all but pried him away from Sam as he heard multiple foot falls coming from the stairs. Most likely Samantha's scream had woken everyone and they were coming to investigate why she had screamed.

He spotted Shizuru from the corner of his eye, soon followed by Keiko and Kuwabara.

 _Yup. Sam's scream woke them all up_. Yusuke thought to himself as he dragged Toya away from the frightened woman just in time for her to make a run for the door.

Rolling his eyes heavenwards as he muttered a particularly foul oath he released Toya and ordered someone to fill the guy in while he went after Sam and made sure nothing got a hold of her.

(***************************************************************************************************************************************)

Sam didn't know what the hell was going on. The very last thing that she remembered was from the night before when she had been chased into an alley and then...the next thing she knew she had woken up in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar location that was _obviously_ somewhere outside of the city.

Since all that she had seen when she had looked out of the window was nothing but an endless sea of trees.

So naturally once she was outside of the- cabin- er house? thingy, she made a beeline towards the woods in the hopes that she could put enough space between herself and whoever the hell those two guys back there had been. After all, it was easy to get lost in areas such as this.

However the second that she managed to get far enough away to slow her pace a little bit, she finally felt it. That particularly powerful sort of energy that only malicious creatures such as demons and vengeful spirits possessed.

Staggering back a little bit from where she had been originally standing, Sam felt her back hit something that hadn't been there mere moments before and felt herself break out into a cold sweat as she tilted her head back slightly, and came face to face with the dark haired man from back at the cabin- er house thingy, and opened her mouth to scream again when the guy reached up and covered her mouth as he pinned her in place against his front with his free arm and spoke. His tone soft despite his appearance.

"Hn. I knew my spirit energy would get your attention. Now first off, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. My friend back at the house isn't going to hurt you- no one you come into contact out here will hurt you. Second of all, try to calm yourself and think rationally. If we had actually wanted to hurt you- we would have had more than a few times to do so already. Third of all, your screams will attract attention that none of us need."

"And fourth of all, I've been up all night relocating us because one of my demon buddies has decided to do something he shouldn't have which means that whether you like it or not you need me and my friends to help protect you... Now I'm going to remove my hand and I need you to stay quiet while I take you back so that we don't draw too much attention to us. There are spirits and apparitions in these woods that devour humans."

Sam made a soft whimpering sound as she blinked back tears.

Yusuke sighed and was about to release her when he felt Jin's spirit energy a mere moment before he dropped down out of the sky and landed a few feet from them.

"Urameshi, I felt-" The wind demon said as he noticed Sam being held in place against his friend's body by the man's arm while his other hand was securely covering the wee gal's mouth. Probably to keep her from screaming her lungs out as he slowly said. "Oh. So the wee lass is finally awake. Never mind then."

Sighing as Yusuke noted Sam's already pale complexion going from somewhat pale to flat out chalky white, her eyes had become even more frightened than before and she was eyeing the both of them in a manner that set Yusuke's teeth on edge since it meant that the woman was about to become completely hysterical.

 _Shit. I can't let this keep happen._ Yusuke thought as Jin muttered something about leaving him alone with Sam and he suddenly called out and told the demon not to bother and told him to come over and he'd introduce Sam to him.

Curious and just a little bit leery about the small woman in Yusuke's grasp, he moved to stand just a few inches from him as Yusuke spoke to the woman. Explaining how Jin was a good friend of his and had helped him out a few times over the years. He explained to her that he was the former spirit detective of human world and how he had fought for years to make things safer for all humans.

He told her of how a few demons weren't evil.

And Jin was among one of those few.

Sam listened intently, hoping to learn something about the man that would help her escape him but could sense no intent to cause harm- physical or otherwise to her person- she did however feel a strange soothing feeling emanating from him.

And realized after a moment or two that he was attempting to sooth her fears as he slowly, slowly, much too slowly for her liking- released her and once she was free allowed her to put a little space between herself and him and his friend without leaving the immediate area in another mad dash for freedom.

"Feeling a bit better now?" The man asked as the redhead standing next to him remained quiet.

Sam chewed her lower lip for a moment before slowly nodding her head, though she didn't bother to take her eyes from the two since she still felt that she couldn't trust them as the dark haired man introduced himself and his friend (again).


End file.
